Japan pushes for ‘allied-country exception’ amid U.S. barriers to telecom equipment imports

【Financial News Tokyo = Correspondent Seo Hye-jin】The U.S. and Japanese governments have agreed to establish a consultative body to discuss economic security issues, including import restrictions on information and communications technology equipment. With the U.S. excluding foreign-made products, including those from China, the two countries will seek ways to cooperate to ensure a stable supply of components and materials for data centers.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 19th, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversees U.S. telecommunications policy, and Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications signed a memorandum of understanding on the 16th, with the establishment of the consultative body at its core. The consultations will be held once a quarter, with the first meeting to take place as early as this year. The U.S. Department of Defense and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs may also participate.
Since the start of the second Trump administration, the FCC has effectively banned imports of “foreign-made” drones and home routers. Products are recognized as U.S.-made if more than 65% of their components are sourced in the United States and they are assembled there; products that do not meet this standard are classified as foreign-made.
Last July, humanoid robots and inverters (power conversion devices) were also added to the import ban list. Concerns spread among Japanese companies that the scope of the restrictions could expand further.
Through the new consultative body, Japan aims to minimize the impact of the import bans on its companies and ensure Japanese-made products receive preferential treatment as “products from an allied country.”
The U.S. government has already established a system allowing imports of foreign-made products that pass special reviews. The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security review inverters, while the Department of Defense reviews humanoid robots. However, there have been complaints that the reviews take a long time, placing a heavy burden on companies.
Japan is expected to propose measures such as streamlining review procedures for its products as an ally. A U.S. government official said last July that allied-country products were likely to be excluded from the import ban list.
The biggest immediate issue is the optical transceiver, which the FCC is reportedly considering adding to the import ban list. Optical transceivers transmit and receive optical signals and are widely used in communications at artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Chinese companies account for more than half of the global market, while Japanese companies are also competitive, including in key components and materials.
AI data centers are being built one after another in the United States, making it difficult to meet demand using only U.S.-made products. Through the consultations, the Japanese government is expected to call for Japanese-made optical transceivers and related components and materials to be excluded from the restrictions and included in U.S. supply chains.
During the Biden administration, the FCC’s import restrictions focused on Chinese-made products. The Trump administration, by contrast, expanded the restrictions to foreign-made products more broadly, citing reasons such as preventing exports that circumvent the rules. It also appears to intend to link this to a “revival of manufacturing” in the United States.

[email protected] Seo Hye-jin Reporter