A ‘partial exemption from additional tariffs on steel’
Economic benefits are being given as Japan clearly shows its stance toward the U.S. amid the increasing tensions between the U.S. and China. Recently, the U.S. announced its plan to exempt partial additional tariffs on Japanese steel. It’s been reported on the 5th that the two countries are close to an agreement on this point. Most of the exemptions are expected to come into effect this spring. As seen in South Korea during the Cold War and Taiwan in the New Cold War, this confirms how much diplomacy affects practical national interests such as security and economy.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Trade Minister Koichi Hagiuda have been in negotiations since last November to exempt a portion of U.S. imports of Japanese steel from extra tariffs. In 2018, during the Donald Trump administration, the U.S. imposed additional tariffs on Japan, Canada, and the European Union (EU), stating that increased imports posed a threat to national security (an additional 24 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum). Japan has been requesting the complete abolition of this tariff since the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration last year.
Before this, friction between the two countries over trade occurred, as the EU triggered retaliatory measures against the additional U.S. tariffs. The U.S. eventually decided to agree to maintain the additional tariffs in October 2021, but set tariff-free imports, which Japan is attempting to take the same action. Although the size of the Japanese steel import quota and other details have not been confirmed, Bloomberg reported that they are close to receiving tariff exemptions.
The U.S.-Japan alliance is as important as the U.S.-ROK alliance in the U.S. strategy in Northeast Asia. The history that Japan was the main rear supply base for the U.S. military and other allied forces during the Korean War is ongoing. In fact, the U.S. military in Japan is much larger and more established than the U.S. forces in South Korea. While the U.S. economic strategy for the Asia-Pacific region is being prepared to hold China in check, various opportunities for Japan will naturally increase. We need to look back on how the Japanese economy, which was the world’s leading economy in the 1980s, declined and fell into a long-term recession. The U.S. strategy curbed Japan’s chances, and many opportunities were given to South Korea. This is how Samsung, which overthrew Sony, made South Korea into a semiconductor powerhouse.
Through the U.S.’s new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, close cooperation between the United States and its allies is being pursued over agendas, such as digital trade, supply chains, and eco-friendly technologies. Last year, the Biden administration started a security alliance called “AUKUS” with Australia and the United Kingdom, formed a quadrilateral partnership called the “Quad” with India, Japan, and Australia, to further strengthen economic diplomacy. Japan quickly took on the most sympathetic position towards the United States.
It is the most astute ally by agreeing on issues, such as China’s human rights issues. Meanwhile, in 2018, under the Moon Jae-in administration, instead of being exempt from tariffs on its steel exports to the U.S., South Korea was limited to 70 percent of the average volume of steel exports compared to the last three years. As a result, exports of Korean steel to the U.S., which averaged 3.83 million tons per year between 2015 and 2017, have been reduced to 2 million tons per year.
Original article: https://www.jayupress.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=2181
