With No Powerful Negotiator, Japan Fails in Bid to Win Exclusion from U.S. Tariffs; Japan Assesses Post-‘Liberation Day’ Position

By Yuta Abe / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

20:00 JST, April 4, 2025

The government tried but failed to persuade the United States to exclude Japan from a list of countries subject to reciprocal tariffs and additional tariffs on cars.

The situation has exposed the government’s lack of influence on U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, as well as the ruling coalition’s dissatisfaction with the government.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke to reporters in front of the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday after the United States announced its decisions on tariffs.

“We have made requests [to the U.S. administration] on various levels asking for reconsideration,” Ishiba said emphatically. “If the right thing for me to do is to talk directly with President Trump going forward, then I will ask for an opportunity to do that in the most appropriate way at the most appropriate time.”

Yet there are no signs that previous negotiations have produced any meaningful results.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto visited the United States and held talks with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and others on March 10. Then, on March 27, vice ministers of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Foreign Ministry met high-ranking U.S. government officials and asked for Japan to be excluded from the tariffs. However, they did not receive a positive response from the U.S. side, nor did they even get accurate information.

“The details of the announcement [on tariffs] were completely different from what we had been told in advance,” a senior official of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry revealed. “This is not what we anticipated.”

Some are of the opinion that, in the words of a middle-rank lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party, “there should be an all-powerful negotiator who can handle matters that span multiple ministries.”

At a meeting on Thursday, Sanae Takaichi, an LDP member and former minister in charge of economic security, criticized Muto for only making one visit to the United States.

“The Japanese government should have shown [the United States] that it was serious,” she said. “It’s unclear who is at the helm [of this government].”

Nevertheless, it is also true that no country was successful in their negotiations with the United States regarding the tariff measures.

“Mr. Trump made the decision with solid determination,” a high-ranking government official said. “Avoiding the tariffs was always going to be a tough bid. What matters now is how we’re going to respond after the tariffs are implemented.”

The government is considering initiating negotiations with the United States on reducing or abolishing the tariffs by using the cards it holds that Trump may be interested in, such as reviews to non-tariff barriers and investments including those related to liquified natural gas development in Alaska.

Still, immediate results cannot be expected.

When speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ishiba used strong terms to express that the tariffs were extremely disappointing because he “had been convinced that he had no choice but to patiently appeal to those in Japan and abroad about the injustice [of the tariffs] and to prepare for a long-running battle,” said a person close to the prime minister.