Japan says goodbye to trade benefits with Russia

Japan will revoke Russia's most-favoured-nation trade status as part of new sanctions against Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday. This means that Russian products will begin to pay tariffs to enter Japanese territory. Kishida did not clarify which goods will see their tariffs increased after the revocation of the commercial status. However, the Mainichi newspaper reported that the move would lead to increased tariffs on certain seafood products, such as sea urchins and crab, imported from Russia. In 2021, Russia accounted for 81% of sea urchins and 47.6% of crab imported by Japan, according to government data. Japan has already imposed sanctions on exports of chips and high-tech equipment from Russia, as well as on dozens of Russian and Belarusian representatives, businessmen and banks, freezing their assets. Tokyo will also tighten sanctions by widening the scope of the asset freeze against the Russian elite and banning ...