Japan intends to push back against any U.S. effort to bring it into an economic bloc aligned against China because of the importance of Tokyo’s trade ties with Beijing, according to current and former Japanese government officials.
Like many other countries, Japan is trying to get permanent relief from President Donald Trump’s tariffs by addressing U.S. concerns in areas of bilateral trade, including automobiles and agriculture. The officials, who asked not to be identified, said that Japan is pushing to strike a deal before the current 90-day reprieve in tariffs expires, with one person saying the country hopes to finalize an agreement around the Group of Seven summit in June.
At the same time, the officials said Japan doesn’t want to get caught up in any U.S. effort to maximize trade pressure on China by curbing its own economic interaction with Beijing, which is Tokyo’s biggest trading partner and an important source of goods and raw materials.
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