Photo/Illutration Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on March 11. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Japanese officials, appearing resigned after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminum products, are now bracing for additional measures from Washington that could rattle Japan’s economy and security arrangements.

Trade minister Yoji Muto had recently visited the United States in an attempt to win assurances that Japan would be excluded from the U.S. tariffs.

However, Trump on March 12 imposed the 25-percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products, without exception.

“We have explained our concerns to the United States at various levels and requested an exclusion of our country from the measures,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a news conference on the afternoon of March 12. “It is disappointing that the United States started to impose the additional tariffs without excluding Japan, despite our efforts.”

Although the Japanese government plans to continue asking Washington to remove Japanese products from the tariffs, officials in Tokyo have become less optimistic about winning any favor from the Trump administration.

The issue of possible tariffs on Japanese products was not raised when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with Trump in Washington on Feb. 7, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Some of Ishiba’s aides called the summit a “huge success” because Trump did not threaten Japan with tariffs, as he had done with other nations. This evaluation spread in the Japanese government.

However, the optimism quickly changed after officials realized that Japan was becoming embroiled in Trump’s “deal” of connecting security and trade issues.

“All countries are subject to tariffs, so it is impossible for only Japan to evade them,” an aide to Ishiba said.

The aide said the reality is that Japan is at the mercy of the Trump administration’s every move.

The Trump administration has said it is considering imposing tariffs on automobile imports as early as April. Japan has also been seeking an exclusion from this tariff.

“Automobiles are more important for Japan,” an Ishiba aide said. “What can we do before it takes effect?”

On March 6, Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, saying the United States must protect Japan but Japan is not obliged to protect the United States.

Elbridge Colby, who has been nominated as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, also said Japan should raise its national defense spending to at least 3 percent of its GDP.

Some Japanese government officials see Colby’s remark as a message that the “Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is unfair, so Japan should cooperate effectively in terms of the economic aspect.”

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