As Trump imposes tariff “without exception”, Asian allies hope to return | Donald Trump
When the President of the United States Donald Trump announced his latest Steel and aluminum tariffs This week insisted that there be “exemptions, no exceptions”.
The closest allies of Washington in the Asian-Pacific Ocean hopes that they will be able to change the mind of Mercurial US president.
Japan, South Korea and Australia, allies of the US contract with economies exported by exports, have confirmed that they seek exemptions from Trump’s 25 percent of tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Trump has committed himself Follow the measures Against the imported steel and aluminum with wider reciprocal tariffs, which could potentially cover a far wider range of goods, countries imposed on US exports on Thursday.
“We will take the necessary measures, including the lobbying of the United States for the exemption, at the same time monitoring any possible impact on the Japanese economy,” Prime Minister Shiger Ishib said on Wednesday, who met Trump in Washington last week, Wednesday.
The effort in Tokyo to disturb Trump is likely to include the obligations to increase the US import.
The American trade deficit with Japan was about $ 70 billion last year, mainly as a result of the exports of Japanese car manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
Tokyo will also probably emphasize its importance as an ally in dealing with China in the region and “its technical advantage, which is now desperate to lead in new strategic industries,” said Shigeto Nagai, head of Asia at Oxford Economics.
“Japan enjoys a large trade excess with the USA for machines, which now gives an incentive to impose tariffs,” Nagai told Al Jazeera.
“At the same time, the technological advantage of Japanese machines such as semiconductor equipment and material will make it difficult to find a quick replacement.”
After theirs Talking at the White House on FridayTrump and Ishiba published a joint statement in which the Republican plan to strengthen the domestic industry, including the promise of strengthening energy security by “releasing affordable and reliable energy and natural resources of the United States”.
At the same time, Ishiba impressed Trump that Japan was the largest foreign investor in the US in the last five years and announced plans for trillion dollars in further investments, including artificial intelligence.
“My feeling is that this [tariff exemptions] It remains negotiating, “said Ryota Abe, an economist of banking corporation Sumitomo Mitsui (SMBC), she told Al Jazeera.
“Adverse effects on the American economy would not be small if the relationship between the two is seriously damaged. And that would not be the best choice even for now. “
Although the outlines of his other administration policy are still taking place, Trump has taken over his reputation because he loved an agreement with him from his first term.
Despite the insistence on that His tariffs would refer to all countries, Trump almost immediately left the door open to the exception for Australia, saying that he would “greatly consider” exemptions.
“We have an excess with Australia, one of the few,” Trump said.
Trump’s older trade and production counselor, Peter Navarro, hoped for cold water on that hope of the next day, claiming that Australia was “killed” by the US aluminum market.
Australian aluminum exports increased after Trump first entered his duty in 2016, reached about 269,000 tons in 2019.
The export has since been significantly varied, coming to 83,000 tons of 2024, which is less than 210,000 previous year.
“Overall, the second Trump administration acts more ruthless and chaotic from the first, so that allies like Japan – and Australia and NATO/EU [European Union] Allies – will continue to face a very unstable and difficult diplomatic situation, which will require an extremely dextuated leadership, “said Craig Mark, an assistant lecturer of the economy at Hosei University in Tokyo, he told Al Jazeera.
During his first term, Trump did not adopt an uniform approach to the approval of friendly countries and allies.
In 2018, his administration exempted Australia from steel and aluminum tariffs and awarded South Korea without customs steel quotas up to 2.63 million tons.
But his administration did not expand such relief to Japan.
The administration of former US President Joe Biden mitigated Tariffs to Japanese Steel in 2022, agreeing to allow 1.25 million metric tons of steel to enter the US every year, holding Tariffs to Aluminum.
“The experience of the first Trump administration shows that Japan could once again be found the target of American tariffs, despite all his diplomatic efforts,” said Mark, professor of Hosei University, pointing out that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went to “a large length to build close personal Trump relationship. “
Although Trump has a “much more expansive view of his traditions”, compared to his first term, and the tariff considers “a truly valuable tool that can be used to solve countless problems”, the most important feature of his administration is uncertainty, said Deborah Elms, a trade leader policies in the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore.
Elms said she was not sure that Trump himself would be able to answer his direction or the goals of politics, “or if he did, that his answers would now be the same as he could say in another hour or week.”
“Because he’s the only trade policy – at least for now – that lack of clarity is important,” Elms told Al Jazeera.
