The U.S. imported about 1.7 million metric tons of steel from Japan in 2017, the most recent year not affected by the tariffs. Imports fell to 1.1 million tons by 2019, according to Commerce Department data.
The solution, which Bloomberg News reported earlier, mirrors the accord that the U.S. reached with the European Union in October that ended punitive measures on as much as $10 billion of each other’s goods.
“Today’s announcement builds on the deal we struck with the EU and will further help us rebuild relationships with our allies around the world as we work to fight against China’s unfair trade practices,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
While the U.S. and EU are seeking to leverage their deal into a broader global arrangement to address non-market excess capacity and penalize countries that don’t meet low-carbon targets for steel and aluminum, Japan isn’t joining that process at this…


