Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba responds to a question at a Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 3. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Tokyo is hoping to avoid falling into the firing line after U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on his campaign promise to impose steep tariffs on three trading partners.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with senior Foreign Ministry officials at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence on Feb. 1 to prepare for a tough Japan-U.S. summit expected to be held on Feb. 7 at the White House. 

Ishiba hopes to avoid additional tariffs by highlighting Japan’s investments in the United States and its contribution to job creation in the country, sources said.

Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 1 to slap a 25-percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and place an additional 10-percent tariff on those from China.

Canada, Mexico and China are the top three exporting nations to the United States.

Trump has declared that he will levy a tariff on the European Union, whose members include Germany, the fourth-largest exporter.

While Japan, which ranks fifth, has not been singled out for criticism, government officials remain wary of the next move of Trump, who loathes trade deficits.

“No one knows when tariffs will come up for discussion or what will stir up a hornet’s nest,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

At a Lower House Budget Committee session on Jan. 31, Ishiba said Japan’s investments in the United States over the past five years top the world.

“We need to emphasize to Trump that the United States will gain nothing by bullying Japan but derive substantial benefits by keeping up a good relationship,” a senior official at the prime minister’s office said.

At a Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 3, Katsuya Okada, executive adviser of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, asked Ishiba if he plans to point out in the summit that Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China are undesirable.

“I understand that Trump has carried out what he promised during his presidential campaign,” Ishiba said. “We should think about the backgrounds against which the decisions were made and what impact they will have.”

The tariffs will take effect on Feb. 4. Canada and Mexico have announced plans to place retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States.

(This article was compiled from reports by Kohei Morioka and Shinichi Fujiwara.)

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