The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) said on Monday that the world stands at the “crossroads” of whether free trade can be maintained.
“The world has flourished through the free trade system and free trade since the end of World War II. The driving force behind this system is the US,” chairman Masakazu Tokura told a press conference.
“The US itself has (now) raised tariffs, and protectionist moves have emerged in response because various countries needed to counteract these moves,” Tokura said.
“To put it in a dramatic way, we hold a sense of urgency that we stand at the crossroads of whether the free trade regime can be maintained,” he said.
Parallel to the 24 per cent tariff on Japanese imports that takes effect this week, Trump has also imposed 25 per cent levies on cars coming into the US.
In Japan, the auto sector is a major pillar of the world’s fourth-biggest economy, employing about 5.6 million people directly or indirectly.
Vehicles accounted for around 28 per cent of Japan’s ¥21.3 trillion (US$142 billion) of US-bound exports last year.
