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The package was decided at the 27 May 2025 meeting of Japan's newly formed "Comprehensive Countermeasures Headquarters for US Tariff Measures," the cabinet-level body coordinating Japan's domestic cushioning response to the April 2025 Trump reciprocal-tariff regime. It draws on FY2025 budget reserve funds (yobihi) rather than a new supplementary budget, allowing rapid disbursement without a Diet vote.
Two components:
price subsidy that had lapsed after the 2024 winter round, at JPY 2/kWh for electricity and JPY 8/m3 for city gas, for July, August and September 2025 usage. METI granted the implementing utilities special tariff authorizations (a departure from standard-approved retail supply terms) on 25 June 2025 so discounts could appear on bills.
local programs cutting electricity and LPG costs for businesses, plus expanded funding support (loan guarantees/credit lines) for SMEs through government-affiliated lenders, aimed at exporters and tariff-exposed manufacturers.
Framed publicly as cost-of-living relief, the timing (immediately following the US tariff shock) and the explicit tariff-response mandate of the coordinating body place this squarely in the domestic-cushioning category alongside similar 2025 measures from other US trading partners (e.g., Brazil's Lei 15122).
seek faster resolution or retaliation in US tariff talks by socializing the domestic cost of the tariff shock.
subsequent rounds (see the January-March 2026 and July-September 2026 special authorizations from METI, which follow the same reserve-fund + special-tariff-authorization mechanism).
a trade-control action; it does not itself alter tariff or licensing treatment of any counterparty.
firm-level allocation data beyond the aggregate figure.
supplementary-budget ratification and, if so, on what date.