TOKYO, Aug 30: Japan dropped plans on Friday to retaliate against US curbs on steel imports imposed in March, giving credit to a series of recent steps by Washington to whittle away the scope of the duties.

Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma said Japan decided against imposing punitive duties against U.S. products until a World Trade Organisation dispute panel reaches a conclusion on Washington’s so-called “safeguard” measures, which have angered its trade partners.

The decision had been seen as all but a formality after Tokyo put on hold plans to retaliate a few months ago after Washington exempted some Japanese steel products from the tariffs.

In addition, the United States last week excluded 178 foreign steel products from the disputed tariffs, the seventh and final round of exclusions for 2002 which brought the number of foreign steel products exempted from the tariffs to 727.

As a result, about 550,000 tonnes of Japanese steel products would be excluded from the controversial duties, which meant about 70 per cent of Japanese exports would not be affected by the safeguard steps, Hiranuma said.

We welcome these actions by the United States government as realistic and constructive steps that reflect the reality of the US-Japanese steel trade, Hiranuma said in a statement.

However, he added that if the WTO panel ruled against Washington and the White House still did not scrap the tariffs, Japan will exercise its rights to demand balancing compensation.—Reuters