Both the Japanese government and Japanese reporters' coverage of Japan's more than two-hour talk with the U.S. trade representative, commerce secretary and treasury secretary describe politicians who are not in a hurry to settle to avoid 24% tariffs under the reciprocal tariff plan that is scheduled to take effect in early July.

The Chinese government has reportedly added U.S. ethane imports to a growing list of unannounced exemptions to its universal 125% tariff rate on U.S. products.

Amid swirling reports that China is considering exemptions from tariffs on some critical U.S. goods, an industry expert said that these moves should not be read as a broader shift in the trade war between the two countries.

Vice President JD Vance issued a statement that said he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "welcomed significant progress in the negotiations for a U.S.-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and formally announced the finalization of the Terms of Reference for the negotiations, laying down a roadmap for further discussions about our shared economic priorities."

President Donald Trump was set to join talks at the White House with Japan April 16 “to negotiate Tariffs, the cost of military support, and ‘TRADE FAIRNESS,’” he said in a Truth Social post earlier in the day. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were also set to attend, he said. “Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!”

The EU and the United Arab Emirates agreed to launch negotiations on a free trade deal, the European Commission said April 9. The talks will focus on liberalizing trade in goods while "deepening cooperation in strategic sectors," including critical raw materials. The commission is confident both sides "can move swiftly and ambitiously," it said, adding that trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic "will soon return to the UAE to take the talks forward."

Senior trade officials from China and the EU spoke about U.S. tariffs and other trade issues during an April 10 call, and they also agreed to “start consultations” on boosting trade between the two sides “as soon as possible,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation. Those talks will include “in-depth issues related to market access, create a more favorable business environment for enterprises” and touch on electric vehicle trade (see 2411080024), China said. “Both sides support restarting the China-EU trade remedy dialogue mechanism, discussing trade diversion issues, and properly handling trade frictions.”

The U.S. Trade Representative has published its annual trade estimate, almost 400 pages of tariff and non-tariff barriers in countries around the world. The report noted, "The estimates included in this report constitute an attempt to quantitatively assess the potential effect of removing certain foreign trade barriers to particular U.S. exports. However, the estimates cannot be used to determine the total effect on U.S. exports, either to the country in which a barrier has been identified, or to the world in general. In other words, the estimates contained in this report cannot be aggregated in order to derive a total estimate of gain in U.S. exports to a given country or the world."

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with U.K. Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds and the British prime minister's Special Adviser on Business and Investment Varun Chandra on March 18 to discuss a potential bilateral trade deal, the Commerce Department announced. The meeting follows U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to the White House last month. Lutnick expressed the Trump administration's desire for a trade deal, and Commerce said efforts to develop it "will continue to unfold over the coming days and weeks."

China announced retaliatory tariffs this month against Canada for its duties on Chinese-made electric vehicles and Chinese steel and aluminum products, saying the Canadian measures “seriously violate” World Trade Organization rules and are “discriminatory.” Beijing will impose a 100% tariff on Canadian rapeseed oil, oil cake and peas, and a 25% tariff on Canadian aquatic products and pork, according to an unofficial translation of a March 8 notice from the Customs Tariff Commission of China’s State Council. The duties take effect March 20.