Japan will not file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China's recent emergency curbs on steel imports now that Beijing has agreed to exempt some Japanese products, the trade minister said Tuesday.
"We have decided to refrain from notifying the WTO this time, considering overall the effect these measures have on our country's steel industry and other aspects," said Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry.
Japan will nevertheless continue to press China for more exemptions, he said.
"We appreciate that the Chinese government has begun to move forward its exemption procedures, as a result of the repeated requests by the government and (Japan's) private sector," he said. "But the announcement this time covers only part of the requests by Japanese industry, and we plan to continue asking the Chinese government for further exemptions."
China has decided to exclude some Japanese products from its emergency three-year curb on steel imports.
But the decision, announced Friday by China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation on its Web site, only exempts eight types of items under four of the five steel categories subject to the safeguard curbs, according to Japanese trade ministry officials.
On Nov. 20, China formalized three-year tariff quotas to counter the U.S. imposition last March of three-year tariffs of up to 30 percent on an array of steel imports.