United States

The following communication, dated and received on 14 April 2025, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of the United States.

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The United States has received Japan's notification^*, dated 9 May 2025, under Article 12.5 of the Agreement on Safeguards regarding its proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations under Article 8.2, with respect to the tariffs on steel, aluminum, and automobiles and certain automobile parts, imposed pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

The United States notes that the premise for Japan's proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations under Article 8.2 is that the tariffs are safeguard measures for purposes of that Agreement. The President imposed the tariffs on steel, aluminum, and automobiles and certain automobile parts pursuant to Section 232, under which the President determined that tariffs are necessary to adjust imports of these articles that threaten to impair the national security of the United States. Section 232 is a national security statute, and the United States is maintaining these actions pursuant to the essential security exception in Article XXI of the GATT 1994.

The United States did not take action pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is the law under which the United States imposes safeguard measures.[1] The United States is not maintaining these actions pursuant to the safeguards / emergency action provision in Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards. These actions are, therefore, not safeguard measures. Accordingly, there is no basis for Japan's proposal to suspend concessions or other obligations under Article 8.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards with respect to these measures.

Article 8.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards states, in relevant part, that an exporting Member shall be free to suspend, upon the expiration of 30 days from the day on which written notice of suspension of concessions is received by the Council for Trade in Goods, "the application of substantially equivalent concessions or other obligations under GATT 1994, to the trade of the Member applying the safeguard measure." However, the United States is not "applying [a] safeguard measure."  Thus, by its terms, Article 8.2 cannot accommodate Japan's proposal. Moreover, Article 8.2 prefaces an exporting Member's ability to suspend such concessions upon holding consultations under Article 12.3 with the Member applying the safeguard measure. Japan never previously requested Article 12.3 consultations with the United States regarding any of the Section 232 tariffs referenced in its 9 May 2025 notification. Accordingly, Japan has not complied with the obligations under the Agreement on Safeguards, the agreement that it mistakenly contends applies to the tariffs at issue.

Nonetheless, we remain open to discuss this or any other issue with Japan. However, any discussions regarding the tariffs would not be under the Agreement on Safeguards and would be without prejudice to our view that the tariffs are not safeguard measures.

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