The U.S. will suspend a levy on Japanese steel that was imposed under former President Donald Trump's administration, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.
The deal between the U.S. and Japan is expected to be formally announced February 7, 2022, and comes after months of anticipation centered on the negotiations between the U.S. and Japan. It will suspend the 25 percent levy on steel imports from Japan coming into the U.S. up to a certain threshold, Bloomberg reported.
Anything above that threshold will still be subject to additional charges.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Japan's Trade and Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda agreed in November of last year to resolve the Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminum, Newsweek previously reported.
The U.S. previously proposed an offer to Japan in December aimed at putting the tariff issue to bed, but Japan opted to wait for a better deal at the time, Bloomberg reported, citing an official familiar with the matter.
Japan's ambassador to Washington then said last month that steel and aluminum tariff negotiations between the U.S. and Japan were "robust," according to Reuters.
The announcement will also follow up America's agreement with the European Union in October of last year to ease other Trump-era tariffs imposed on European steel and aluminum, CNBC reported.
Aluminum imports are not covered in the deal between the U.S. and Japan and will still be subject to a 10 percent tariff, according to the Bloomberg report.
Trump imposed the tariffs back in 2018, citing national security risks, Bloomberg reported. The EU responded with its own measures on products like bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson Inc. motorcycles and Levi Strauss & Co. jeans.
Commerce Department data indicates that Japan is the fifth-largest source of U.S. steel, but Japan is only responsible for about 4 percent of the steel in terms of volume imported to the U.S., Bloomberg reported. Additionally, the 1.1 million tons of imports estimated by the International Trade Administration to have come from Japan in 2019 accounted for about 1 percent of all metal used in the U.S.
It was not immediately clear when and how the U.S. and Japan would announce the tariff deal.
Newsweek has reached out to the office of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai for comment.
Update 2/7/2021 1:00 p.m.: This story has been updated to add additional background information on the deal.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more
