(Bloomberg) - A heavyweight of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party called US tariffs “a real mess” after President Donald Trump hiked levies in response to a Supreme Court decision that his previous tariffs were illegal.
“To be very frank, it’s a real mess,” Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister who currently serves as chairperson of the party’s tax research group, said Sunday during a live broadcast on Fuji TV.
Onodera shunned the possibility of Japan seeking a renegotiation of the trade deal. He pointed out that the crux of trade negotiations last year was lowering tariffs on autos — Japan’s largest source of exports and a key provider of jobs and investment.
“For Japan, the top priority was autos at the time, but those auto tariffs are not covered by this Supreme Court decision. It wouldn’t be good if we started seeing an impact there because we try to renegotiate the deal,” he said.
He added that any renegotiation would require “a thorough and careful discussion.”
Onodera’s comments were the first public comments by a senior LDP member after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs were illegal. Trump subsequently hit out at the ruling, imposing a fresh 10% tariff on foreign goods Friday, before hiking that to 15% on Saturday.
The turbulence over Trump’s tariffs comes a month before Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is set to fly to Washington to meet with Trump and reaffirm that the trade deal is on track.
The trade deal agreed last summer lowered auto tariffs to 15% from 27.5% in exchange for a $550 billion fund for investments into the US.
The initial batch of projects, announced just earlier this week by Trump, includes investments in a data infrastructure project, a deep sea oil terminal, and a facility to manufacture synthetic diamonds used for semiconductors, all based in the US.
Onodera said it would only be natural for companies to seek a refund of the tariffs, but added that the details of such a refund would be decided in court.
“I’m worried that businesses will shift away from the US even further if the domestic situation there remains this messy,” he added.
By Sakura Murakami
