Japan PM Ishiba vows aid for small businesses over US tariffs

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday pledged to provide government financing aid to small businesses affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Ishiba told a meeting of the Budget Committee in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan’s parliament, that he would “responsibly promise” to provide such support, indicating that his administration will consider easing lending requirements and utilizing employment adjustment subsidies for the effort.

If businesses are forced to suspend operations due to the tariff measures, it would be natural for them to be allowed to use employment adjustment subsidies, the prime minister said. “We will respond without losing the opportunity” to support small businesses, he added.

Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, who held tariff negotiations with Washington last week, told the committee meeting that he conveyed to the U.S. side Tokyo’s concerns about its high tariffs, imposed by the Trump administration, being inconsistent with the Japan-U.S. trade agreement.

The Japanese government has taken the position that it has “serious concerns over the consistency of (U.S. levies) with the World Trade Organization agreement and the Japan-U.S. trade deal.”

Ishiba said that negotiations between the two countries are expected to focus on expanding employment in the United States, primarily in the manufacturing sector. He added that the government will carefully advance talks with Washington as the negotiation results may become a model for other countries looking to negotiate with the United States.