May 22, 2025
TOKYO – The government has proposed to the United States the creation of a framework for mutual recognition of automobile safety standards, in the lead-up to their next tariff negotiation meeting, Japanese government sources said Tuesday.
The proposal is aimed at addressing something which the U.S. government insists a “non-tariff trade barrier” for exports of U.S.-made automobiles to Japan.
The third ministerial-level negotiation meeting will likely be held on Friday in Washington. Japan’s focus will be on lowering the U.S. tariff on car exports.
As automobile safety standards are different between Japan and the United States, U.S. automakers currently have to obtain Japanese-type approvals when they export U.S.-made automobiles to Japan. Japan and the United States are considering whether it is possible for both to reexamine their rules on automobile safety standards and, if both countries’ rules are similar enough, whether checks can be skipped.
The Japanese side is strongly demanding that Washington abolish its recently imposed 25% additional tariff on Japan’s automobile exports. During the tariff negotiations to date, the U.S. side has not acceded to such demands. By value, automobiles account for about 30% of Japan’s exports to the country.
The U.S. government has demanded that Japan abolish its “non-tariff trade barriers” as a condition for reexamining the automobile tariff. The Japanese government is seeking to use its proposal for mutual recognition of automobile safety checks as a bargaining chip in the negotiations.
In 2016, during the Japan-U.S. automobile trade talks in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, the two sides confirmed that results of U.S. performance checks in seven kinds of tests, including one over rear-view mirrors, could be used in Japan’s safety check procedures.
Working-level negotiations
In the run-up to the ministerial talks, the Japanese and U.S. governments began working-level negotiations in Washington on Monday.
Officials of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, which is in charge of automobile safety standards, participated in the working-level talks alongside officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, which had both taken part in past meetings.
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa is scheduled to depart for the ministerial-level negotiation meeting in the United States on Friday. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with Akazawa on Tuesday at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Our stance of strongly demanding the United States review the series of tariff measures has not changed,” Akazawa told reporters at a press conference.
To date, the Japanese government has presented increasing imports of corn and cooperation in the field of shipbuilding as bargaining chips. Through presenting such options, the Japanese government aims to win concessions from the U.S. government.