Japan reserves right to take counter-measures against U.S. steel tariffs

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has notified the World Trade Organisation that it reserves the right to take counter-measures against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Japan is the only major U.S. ally that did not receive exemptions from U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in March to set import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent for aluminum.

But it had previously refrained from following in the footsteps of China and the European Union, which responded to the U.S. decision with reciprocal threats.

The Japanese government will make any decision on its actual implementation of “rebalancing” measures on the basis of further U.S. steps, as well as the possible impact of retaliatory measures by Tokyo on Japanese companies, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Tariffs Japan will shoulder under the new duties come to about 50 billion yen ($450 million) a year. The ministry said Japan had notified the WTO it reserved the right to take rebalancing measures worth that amount.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.