If no deal is made, Japanese imports face a 25 percent tariff from Trump, which threatens to drive up prices in the U.S. on affected goods. Japan mostly exports vehicles, machinery, and electronics to the U.S. It also risks damaging relations with a key Pacific ally of Washington.

Japan's top tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa will visit Washington from Monday for an eighth round of trade talks, with the deadline

Japan’s ruling coalition is on track to lose its majority in the upper house, according to exit polls from Sunday’s election cited by Reuters. The development could spell heightened political instability just as the country nears a critical trade deadline with the United States.

Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said on Saturday he planned to visit Washington next week to hold further ministerial-level talks with the U.S.

Its leader is a former supermarket manager who created his political party on YouTube in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and campaigned on the Trumpian message “Japanese First.”

Unlike the European Union, the Japanese government has made no indication it plans to impose any kind of reciprocal tariff on the U.S.

TOKYO, July 17 (Reuters) - Japan's top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa held talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on U.S. tariffs on Thursday, as Tokyo races to avert a 25% levy that will be imposed unless a deal is clinched by an August 1 deadline.