Reps. want Japanese soda-ash tariffs reduced

U.S. Senators Mike Enzi, John Barrasso and Congresswoman Liz Cheney, all R-Wyo., urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to prioritize eliminating the Japanese tariff on U.S. natural soda ash during the U.S.-Japan trade agreement negotiations.

While the United States currently supplies nearly 50 percent of the Japanese soda ash market, from 2014 to 2017, U.S. exports of natural soda ash to Japan decreased by 2 percent, while Chinese exports of synthetic soda ash to Japan increased by 73 percent.

In their letter, legislators emphasized how eliminating the Japanese tariff of 3.3 per...