Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Monday he will urge Japan not to increase its tariff on imported beef to 50 percent when he meets Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi this week.

"That's obviously something that I will be raising with him, the increased tariff on the beef," Howard told Sydney radio 2GB from the Philippines, where he began a weeklong tour of Asia.

Japan plans to raise the tariff by 11.5 percentage points from 38.5 percent to 50 percent Aug. 1.

Under a 1993 World Trade Organization safeguard, Japan can automatically increase its tariff if there is a year-on-year increase of more than 17 percent in imported beef on a cumulative quarterly basis.