Japan to curb gasoline prices from June to cushion U.S. tariff blow
Japan's ruling coalition agreed to curb gasoline prices to help cushion households against wider economic pain stemming from U.S. tariffs, while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba scrambles to speak with President Donald Trump.
"It's obviously better to meet him in person," Ishiba told reporters when asked about the possibility of speaking with Trump. "But we're first trying to arrange a phone conference taking the circumstances into consideration," he said.
He spoke after meeting with the leaders of major opposition parties to discuss policy steps to deal with the fallout from Trump's global tariff blitz, which includes a 25% levy on auto imports and a reciprocal 24% tariff on other Japanese goods.
As part of such steps, Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), junior coalition partner Komeito and the opposition Democratic Party for the People (DPP) agreed on Friday to launch steps to curb gasoline prices by June.
According to Japanese media, LDP secretary-general Hiroshi Moriyama told reporters that the steps would be implemented in the form of subsidies through March next year, and could be funded without compiling a supplementary budget.
Earlier in the day, Ishiba told parliament that the U.S. tariff wave had created a "national crisis".
"I believe that it is necessary to consider and respond to it in a non-partisan manner, including not only the government and ruling parties, but also the opposition parties," he said.
Japanese stocks sank on Friday to their lowest since last August, marking their sharpest weekly drop in five years, on fears that a global recession could hit Japan's exports-reliant economy in the wake of the U.S. tariffs.
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