US President Donald Trump has threatened to increase import duties on Japanese goods to 35 percent as trade talks with Tokyo approach a July 9 deadline. The two countries are fast approaching the end of a 90-day negotiation period before previously imposed 24 percent tariffs snap back into place,

Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed on most nations plus steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminium.