Tokyo and Washington will hold bilateral talks today on Japan's steel exports to the United States in a bid to avert a further rise in protectionist sentiment in the U.S, a Japanese government official said Wednesday.
The one-day bilateral talks, being held at Washington's request, will take place in Tokyo. Officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry will meet with a group of U.S. government officials led by David Aaron, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, a MITI official said.
The two sides are expected to discuss worldwide excess capacity in the steel industry and the U.S. industry's allegation that it has been damaged by steel being dumped by Japan and other countries, including Russia, South Korea and Brazil.
The Japanese side is likely to contend that a string of U.S. antidumping claims against major steel products from Japan and other countries poses a threat to the overall global trend of trade liberalization.
The U.S. side is expected to take up the issue that the Japanese government will grant preferential treatment to its steel industry under proposed legislation to revive industrial competitiveness, the official said.
Washington is seeking similar bilateral negotiations with other countries.