TOKYO: Japan’s steel industry said on Monday the US Commerce Department proposal to President Donald Trump to impose curbs on steel imports violate the principles of free trade, calling for Washington to make a careful and appropriate decision.
The US Commerce Department recommended on Friday that Trump impose steep curbs on steel and aluminum imports from China and other countries, ranging from global and country-specific tariffs to broad import quotas.
“The recommendations violate the principles of free trade, which are the foundation for development and prosperity of the global economy,” Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Kosei Shindo said in a statement.
“We hope Trump would make a careful and appropriate judgment,” said Shindo, who also heads Japan’s biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.
Yasuji Komiyama, director of the metal industries division of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, on Monday declined to comment on the US Commerce Department’s proposal, saying a US final decision has not been reached.
“But Japan believes any steel and aluminum imports by the US from Japan do not pose any threat to the US national security,” he said.
Japan exports about 2 million tons of steel products a year to the US, only about 5 percent of its total steel shipments abroad, but the nation’s steelmakers are concerned over the US trade policy.
“My biggest fear is how far President Trump will close down trade,” Eiji Hayashida, president of JFE Holdings Inc, Japan’s No.2 steelmaker, said last week.
“If the US takes action (to curb imports), it may trigger retaliation by other countries. What is most troublesome is to see the world heading to protectionism,” he said.
Nippon Steel’s senior executive also said the company is worried that US trade action could flood Asia with steel products as there is nowhere else for them to go.
“I don’t know if a US move would really make US steelmakers, steel users and consumers happy,” Kiyoshi Imamura, Managing Director at Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan’s top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, said on Monday.
Some US lawmakers and steel and aluminum users have urged caution in taking any trade actions that could cause disruptions or price spikes in raw materials that are found in everything from autos to appliances and aircraft and construction.
Japan’s steel industry urges Trump to make careful trade decision
Japan’s steel industry urges Trump to make careful trade decision
Multilateralism strained, but global cooperation adapting: WEF report
DUBAI: Overall levels of international cooperation have held steady in recent years, with smaller and more innovative partnerships emerging, often at regional and cross-regional levels, according to a World Economic Forum report.
The third edition of the Global Cooperation Barometer was launched on Thursday, ahead of the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos from Jan. 19 to 23.
“The takeaway of the Global Cooperation Barometer is that while multilateralism is under real strain, cooperation is not ending, it is adapting,” Ariel Kastner, head of geopolitical agenda and communications at WEF, told Arab News.
Developed alongside McKinsey & Company, the report uses 41 metrics to track global cooperation in five areas: Trade and capital; innovation and technology; climate and natural capital; health and wellness; and peace and security.
The pace of cooperation differs across sectors, with peace and security seeing the largest decline. Cooperation weakened across every tracked metric as conflicts intensified, military spending rose and multilateral mechanisms struggled to contain crises.
By contrast, climate and nature, alongside innovation and technology, recorded the strongest increases.
Rising finance flows and global supply chains supported record deployment of clean technologies, even as progress remained insufficient to meet global targets.
Despite tighter controls, cross-border data flows, IT services and digital connectivity continued to expand, underscoring the resilience of technology cooperation amid increasing restrictions.
The report found that collaboration in critical technologies is increasingly being channeled through smaller, aligned groupings rather than broad multilateral frameworks.
This reflects a broader shift, Kastner said, highlighting the trend toward “pragmatic forms of collaboration — at the regional level or among smaller groups of countries — that advance both shared priorities and national interests.”
“In the Gulf, for example, partnerships and investments with Asia, Europe and Africa in areas such as energy, technology and infrastructure, illustrate how focused collaboration can deliver results despite broader, global headwinds,” he said.
Meanwhile, health and wellness and trade and capital remained flat.
Health outcomes have so far held up following the pandemic, but sharp declines in development assistance are placing growing strain on lower- and middle-income countries.
In trade, cooperation remained above pre-pandemic levels, with goods volumes continuing to grow, albeit at a slower pace than the global economy, while services and selected capital flows showed stronger momentum.
The report also highlights the growing role of smaller, trade-dependent economies in sustaining global cooperation through initiatives such as the Future of Investment and Trade Partnership, launched in September 2025 by the UAE, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland.
Looking ahead, maintaining open channels of communication will be critical, Kastner said.
“Crucially, the building block of cooperation in today’s more uncertain era is dialogue — parties can only identify areas of common ground by speaking with one another.”
