Japan presses for tariff relief during 90-day pause

(FILES) Honda's passenger vehicles are loaded onto the cargo ship Celestial Wing for export at a pier of the Chiba port in Narashino city, Chiba prefecture, on May 6, 2005. Global powers have condemned US President Donald Trump's steep tariffs on auto imports and parts, pledging to retaliate against the levies in an escalation of the trade war waged by the world's biggest economy. In Japan, the second largest exporter of vehicles to the United States, just behind Mexico, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tokyo was "considering all kinds of countermeasures." (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP)

TOKYO: Japan will continue to urge the United States to rethink its tariff plans in hopes of winning a longer-term reprieve even after President Donald Trump put a portion of the duties on hold, the nation’s top trade representative says. 

“We understand that the tariffs on aluminium, steel and automobiles remain in place, and our position is unchanged,” said Ryosei Akazawa, who was last week appointed the country’s top negotiator on the US levies. “We continue to express our strong concerns and strongly request that they be reviewed.”