By Mariko Katsumura and Yoshifumi Takemoto
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s high commerce negotiator cancelled a go to to the United States at the last minute on Thursday, further delaying talks designed to finalise a $550 billion investment package deal supplied by Tokyo in exchange for aid on punishing tariffs.
Ryosei Akazawa was due to fly to Washington to craft a written affirmation of the phrases of the package deal, such as the cut up of investment returns between the U.S. and Japan, a authorities source beforehand informed Reuters.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also said there would be an announcement this week on Japan’s investment.
“It was found that there are points that need to be discussed at the administrative level during coordination with the American side. Therefore, the trip has been cancelled,” Japan’s authorities spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi informed reporters on Thursday.
Washington and Tokyo agreed in July to set a diminished 15% tariff on imports from Japan in exchange for the package deal of U.S.-bound investment through government-backed loans and ensures, but particulars of its contents stay unclear.
While Trump has touted the package deal as “our money to invest” and said the U.S. would retain 90% of the earnings earned, Japanese officers have harassed that the investments will be decided based mostly on whether they will also benefit Japan.
Japanese officers have repeatedly said they would rather have an amended presidential government order first to take away overlapping tariffs on Japanese items before releasing a joint doc on the investment particulars.
The United States has agreed to amend the July 31 presidential order to guarantee that a 15% levy agreed last month on Japanese imports was not stacked on items, such as beef, that are subject to larger tariffs.
U.S. officers have also said Trump would problem another order to decrease tariffs on Japanese vehicles to 15% from 27.5%, but did not specify when.
“We are strongly requesting that measures be taken to amend the presidential order concerning mutual tariffs as soon as possible, and to issue a presidential order to reduce tariffs on auto parts,” Hayashi added.
Japan’s exports posted the largest month-to-month drop in 4 years in July, pushed by a stoop in shipments to the United States. Reflecting the tariff harm, Japan cut its growth outlook for the 12 months from 1.2% to 0.7% earlier this month.
Akazawa could head to Washington as early next week after the excellent points were resolved, a authorities source acquainted with the negotiations said.
(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko, Makiko Yamazaki, Yoshifumi Takemoto and Mariko Katsumura; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Jamie Freed, Kim Coghill and Saad Sayeed)
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