A U.S. review of additional tariffs on Japanese steel and aluminum imports imposed by the Trump administration will serve only to perpetuate unfair and unreasonable trade restrictions. The measures announced by Washington last week are way out of order and the Japanese government should continue to press for elimination of the tariffs.

In 2018, the Trump administration introduced additional tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, on steel and aluminum imports on grounds they threatened to “impair the national security of the United States.”

Countries targeted by the tariffs, including China, Japan and nations in the European Union, have continued to express outrage at the levies. The Biden administration which followed Trump’s has belatedly started reconsidering the tariffs.

With regard to Japanese steel imports, Washington agreed in April to remove tariffs on about 1.25 million tons of 54 types of steel products shipped annually from Japan. This amount, however, is 30 percent less than the 1.73 million tons of Japanese steel products imported by the United States in 2017 before President Donald Trump imposed the levies. The figure constitutes the average of imports in 2018 and 2019.

The deal amounts to accepting distortions to trade caused by the Trump administration’s unjustifiable tariffs. No quota for tariff-free imports of Japanese aluminum has been set.

The World Trade Organization bans unilateral measures to impose restrictions on trade, including tariffs. However, it is an accepted principle that nations can take such steps for the purpose of national security. But any abuse of this exception amounts to eviscerating the principle of free trade.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo lauded the agreement, saying in a statement the deal “will strengthen America’s steel industry and ensure its workforce stays competitive.” A statement issued by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai echoed Raimondo’s message, arguing the deal “represents an important example of our worker-centered trade policy in action.”

The tariffs were introduced under the pretext of national security, but there is no doubt that the underlying aim was to protect domestic industries and jobs.

Free trade has served as the driving force of global economic growth by helping lower prices and bolster productivity. When a government wants to intervene to lessen the impact free trade can have on workers in affected industries, it should, in principle, try to accomplish that through policy measures other than tariffs; for example, unemployment benefits and other employment-related relief efforts.

It is a shame the Biden administration has failed to act to remove a major negative legacy of the Trump administration. Washington has also continued to veto appointments of new members of the WTO Appellate Body to replace those who are retiring, rendering the world trade watchdog’s dispute settlement mechanism dysfunctional.

These actions run counter to Biden’s pledge when he took office to lead the United States back to international cooperation.

In the United States, globalization has been stigmatized as the root cause of widening disparities. The U.S. government appears to have abandoned its role as the leading promoter of free trade after decades of championing it during the postwar period. It is unlikely to change its stance on this any time soon.

The Biden administration has also shown a reluctance to bring the United States back into the Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral trade agreement. Instead, it has proposed the establishment of a new “Indo-Pacific economic framework,” which seems to be more focused on measures to enhance national economic security in the face of competition from China and ensuring that supply chains of strategic products are not compromised.

Economic security is not a matter to be taken lightly. But this policy imperative does not justify allowing further damage to the fair world order of commerce.

As a major economic power in Asia, Japan should do more to urge the United States to stop behaving in an arrogant and self-righteous manner.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 17