Trump’s 25% car tariffs threaten U.S, Japan economic relations

Japan’s government warned Thursday of a “significant impact” on its economic ties with the United States and on global trade, after President Donald Trump announced import tariffs on cars.

Tokyo is one of Washington’s closest economic and strategic allies, with its firms the biggest investors in the United States and one in 10 Japanese jobs tied to the auto sector.

Trump announced on Wednesday 25 percent tariffs “on all cars that are not made in the United States” effective 12:01 am (0401 GMT) eastern time on April 3.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who last month held friendly talks with Trump at the White House, said Japan was reviewing an “appropriate” response.

“Japan has made significant investments and significant job creation, which doesn’t apply to all countries… We are the number one (country) in investment in the United States,” Ishiba added.

“We believe that the current measures and other broad-based trade restrictions by the US government could have a significant impact on the economic relationship between Japan and the US, as well as on the global economy and the multilateral trading system,” government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

“In response to this announcement, we have again told the US government that this measure was extremely regrettable and we strongly urged the US government to exclude Japan from the scope of this measure,” Hayashi said.