TOKYO/BRUSSELS: Japan has told the World Trade Organization (WO) Friday it was ready to take retaliatory measures against US tariffs on its steel and aluminium, reversing its earlier conciliatory stance toward its close ally.
Japan informed the WTO it had the right to impose tariffs on US goods worth 50 billion yen ($451 million), equivalent to the impact of the US tariffs newly imposed on Japanese metal products, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
But the ministry stopped short of saying Tokyo might take action, saying, “We plan to decide appropriately, considering the impact on Japanese companies as well as related US measures.”
US President Donald Trump sparked fears of a trade war in March when he decided to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium imports, primarily to target China, but also allies, including EU countries as well as Japan.
Marking a departure from a decades-long US-led drive for open and free trade, Trump has claimed that massive flows of imports to the US threatened national security.
While Washington has granted Europe and other allies a delay from imposing the controversial levies, Japan remains on the list of countries facing the tariffs.
As tensions rise between the US and its European allies, the EU told the WTO on Friday it was ready to unfurl retaliatory measures against US tariffs on steel and aluminium, which would include European tariffs on motorcycles and bourbon.
“Today, the EU has notified to the WTO a list of US products on which the EU may in the future apply extra import duties,” said the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm which handles trade affairs for the bloc.
