Japanese PM expresses 'strong disappointment' over US auto part tariffs

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday expressed his strong disappointment over a new 25 percent U.S. tariff on auto parts that took effect earlier in the day.

Ishiba told reporters that Japan will continue to urge U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to reconsider its tariff measures.

The U.S. administration on Saturday imposed a new 25-percent tariff on imported auto components, including engines and transmissions, in another blow to Japan's mainstay car industry which has already been slapped with the same rate of tariff on automobiles that took effect in early April.

Ishiba also said Japan is negotiating with the United States on "all" U.S. tariffs, following reports that the U.S. side is unwilling to offer exemptions on duties imposed on products such as auto and steel.

The U.S. administration told Japan in their second round of negotiations, held in Washington on Thursday, that it aims to focus mainly on reciprocal tariffs in its negotiations with Tokyo while not including duties on automobiles, steel and aluminum, Kyodo News reported, citing Japanese government sources.

Japan has no intention of striking a trade deal with the U.S. administration unless all of its new tariffs are reviewed, top negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said Saturday after he returned to Japan from the ministerial-level talks in Washington.

"We have pressed the United States to reconsider the series of tariffs and we cannot reach an agreement if that is not properly addressed in a package," Akazawa, who is Japan's economic revitalization minister, told reporters.

According to a Reuters report, Finance Minister Kato Katsunobu stated on the Friday that Japan's holdings of more than one trillion U.S. Treasury bonds are one of the tools Japan can use in trade negotiations with the U.S. He emphasized that Japan holds U.S. debt not to support the U.S., but primarily to ensure sufficient liquidity to conduct yen intervention when necessary.

Reuters noted that this statement sharply contrasts with remarks made by Kato last month, when he ruled out the possibility of using Japan's holdings of U.S. Treasuries as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations.

Japanese PM expresses 'strong disappointment' over US auto part tariffs

Japanese PM expresses 'strong disappointment' over US auto part tariffs

Japanese PM expresses 'strong disappointment' over US auto part tariffs

Russia said on Wednesday that its armed forces gained control over a settlement in Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, while Ukraine said on the same day that its armed forces attacked multiple Russian strategic infrastructure.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in its latest report that Russian forces brought under controlled the Zarechnoye Settlement in Zaporizhzhia Region and attacked Ukrainian troops in the direction of Sumy and Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

The ministry also said that over the past day, Russian forces struck Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises, energy facilities, transportation infrastructure, and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries across 147 locations.

Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a war report released on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces attacked multiple Russian targets earlier on the day.

The report said that a synthetic rubber plant, which was located in the Russian city of Yefremov in the Tula Region and was used to produce components for plastic explosives and key raw materials for solid rocket fuel, was attacked.

It also reported that the Ukrainian forces struck a Russian base for unmanned vessel storage and maintenance in Crimea.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on the same day that Russian forces thwarted a planned sabotage and terrorist attack targeting critical infrastructure in the Tyumen Region.

According to the FSB, the suspect acted on orders from Ukrainian special services and planned an attack on a dispatch station of a major oil pipeline operated by the Russian company Transneft.

The individual attempted to extract components he had bought from a cache to assemble an improvised explosive device earlier on the day. When security personnel tried to capture him, he offered armed resistance and was eventually neutralized, the FSB said.

Also on Wednesday, Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv, said that a thermal power plant on the outskirts of the city was attacked by Russian forces on the day, resulting in one death and 13 injuries so far.

Additionally, the attack has directly impacted local heating supply and public transportation operations.

Russia claims controlling new settlement, Ukraine reports striking Russian strategic infrastructure