WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Monday that he might issue Tokyo a notice carrying an updated tariff figure, just days ahead of a cutoff date when increased duties are set to resume against numerous trade counterparts, among them Japan.
Trump took to social media to voice concerns about Japan allegedly hesitating to allow imports of U.S. rice, following remarks from his chief economic adviser indicating intentions to wrap up agreements with various nations shortly.
"I hold tremendous admiration for Japan; even though they refuse to accept our RICE, they're still facing a major rice scarcity," Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
"In short, we’re simply going to send them a letter, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them for many more years," he said.
This month, Trump mentioned that he plans to notify other nations about America’s one-sided tariff rates by writing letters to communicate "the situation."
The U.S. rice industry’s trade group stated on its official site that Japan ranks as the second-largest destination for American exports of milled rice by volume.
Although Trump introduced a broad 10% tariff on imports from many trade partners in April, he also proposed—before putting them on hold—higher tariffs on several countries to leave space for negotiation talks.
The suspension ends on July 9, which means higher tariffs will take effect next week unless an agreement is reached between the involved nations and Washington to prevent their implementation.
So far, just two agreements have been made public. The first was an overall framework agreement with the United Kingdom, and the second involved reducing high retaliatory tariffs with China on a temporary basis.
Earlier on Monday, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett mentioned to CNBC that Washington was close to finalizing a "two-digit" count of agreements, including framework deals.
He mentioned that once a significant package of tax reductions and expenditure cuts is approved, he anticipates an extended discussion with Trump regarding tariffs and setting rate agreements for various nations.
Legislators had hoped to send the major bill to President Trump's office before Independence Day on July 4th.