'Investment, not tariffs,' says Ishiba after telephone talks with Trump before 3rd round of talks
Published: 23 May. 2025, 17:12
![U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 7, 2025. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/23/023cacd4-0af0-48ef-a2c2-aa9a7d93bfd6.jpg)
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 7, 2025. [AP/YONHAP]
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday that he held telephone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and agreed to hold “productive" discussions at an upcoming tariff talks between the two sides.
“Investment, not tariffs,” Ishiba told reporters after the talks. He said Japan’s position to keep pushing Washington to drop all recent tariff measures is unchanged and that he stands by plans to push for Japanese investment to create more jobs in the United States in exchange.
The two leaders held talks just after Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, headed to Washington for a third round of talks with his U.S. counterparts. In the earlier rounds of talks, the United States had not agreed to the Japanese requests.
Ishiba said he reminded Trump that Japan's position was for the U.S. administration to scrap all recent tariffs on imports from Japan, to which the U.S. president made no specific response.
“I expressed my expectations for a productive discussion to take place, and we agreed,” Ishiba told reporters.
The United States is charging a 25% tariff on imports of autos, a mainstay of Japan’s trade with the U.S. and a key driver of growth for the economy. Trump has relaxed some of those tariffs, but has kept in place higher tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Trump requested Friday's talks, and the two leaders discussed about 45 minutes on a range of topics that also included security cooperation between the two allies and the U.S. president’s recent visit to the Middle East, Ishiba said.
He said the two leaders also agreed to hold talks when they both attend the Group of 7 summit in Canada next month.
AP
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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