Japan says it has asked the US to exclude it from 25% steel and aluminum tariffs

Japan’s government says it asked the U.S. to exclude it from 25% steel and aluminum tariffs, a change from duty-free quotas that Tokyo was given previously. Japan made the request Wednesday through its embassy in Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel imports to a minimum of 25%, while hiking aluminum tariffs to 25% from 10%. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi suggested that his country will lobby for an exemption in the coming weeks before the measures are due to take effect.