Japan is considering increasing its corn imports from the United States as part of trade negotiations over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the Nikkei reported on Friday.
The U.S. exported $2.8 billion worth of corn to Japan in 2024, to counter an 80% drop in exports to China.
Hiroshi Moriyama, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight, told reporters earlier in the day that increasing soybean and corn imports from the U.S. would be possible as Japan has limited capacity to produce them domestically.
Japan is also weighing similar concessions for rice imports, Japan’s Yomiuri daily reported last week.
Meanwhile, Trump told reporters on Friday that his administration was very close to a tariff deal with Japan.
Japan’s tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, is scheduled to visit the U.S. from April 30 for a second round of talks with his counterpart, after previously requesting a revocation of the tariffs.
Source: Reuters
