key takeaways
- Following the first round of trade talks with the Trump administration last week, the Ishiba government is working on refining its negotiating position.
- There may be room for compromise on some of Japan’s non-tariff barriers on agriculture and automobiles, though political sensitivities, particularly ahead of the upper house elections, mean that the window for concluding negotiations ahead of the 8 July deadline for the ninety-day suspension of “reciprocal” tariffs is even narrower than it seems.
- Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru has expressed his opposition to including host-nation support for US forces in the talks, but in general his government’s red lines are still unclear.