Signage for Nippon Steel Corp. outside the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, May 26, 2025. After more than 17 months of lobbying and close-fought negotiations to secure control of United States Steel Corp., Nippon Steel appeared on Friday to have received a presidential blessing. Days later, however, investors, executives and diplomats are still unsure of what exactly the US president endorsed. - Bloomberg
TOKYO: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday (May 25) he considers cooperation with the United States in the shipbuilding industry, such as on repairing US military vessels and the joint development of icebreakers, to be a focal point in the Japan-US tariff negotiations.
Ryosei Akazawa, economic revitalisation minister and Japan’s top tariff negotiator, returned to Japan on Sunday after taking part in the third round of ministerial-level talks in the United States and reported the talks’ progress to Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo.
Ishiba that same day spoke to reporters about the third round of talks.
“There were specific discussions with some visible progress,” Ishiba said in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture. “We’ll continue to discuss more details [with the US side] with the Group of Seven Summit [in June] in mind.”
In the Friday talks, Akazawa suggested a project to revitalise the shipbuilding industry in the United States through Japan-U.S. cooperation.
“The United States is interested in it,” Ishiba said. “They wonder if Japan can repair US miliary vessels, and we’d like to offer support.”
The United States considers expanding its presence in the Arctic to be important. “Japan has a technological advantage in building icebreakers, so it will be a part of the bilateral cooperation,” Ishiba said.
Nippon Steel Corp.’s acquisition of US Steel Corp. was also discussed during the talks, according to government sources.
“I’d like to wait for an official announcement by the US government,” Ishiba said. Trump has indicated his intention to approve a partnership between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel.
As for the additional tariffs on automobiles, the key topic for Japan, “The situation is that [the United States] is saying it will neither reduce the tariffs nor increase them,” a senior government official said, indicating that no progress on the issue was made during the Friday talks.
Akazawa will fly to the United States again this weekend to participate in the fourth round of talks with his US counterparts, with US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent expected to be in attendance. - The Japan News/ANN
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