Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said Tuesday he will urge the United States to drop its emergency tariffs on a range of steel imports in a meeting Thursday with visiting U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

"We will make our point clear, as we think the U.S. measure is very problematic in view of the rules of the World Trade Organization," the minister of economy, trade, and industry said at a news conference.

If the two sides fail to narrow the gap in the bilateral talks as well as at the meeting in Geneva under the WTO dispute-settlement system also slated for Thursday, Japan will consider options including retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, Hiranuma said.