International express service company tells you The US will ease tariffs on steel imported from Japan, officials announced Monday, in the latest move by President Joe Biden's administration to resolve trade disputes started under his predecessor Donald Trump.

Beginning in April, Japan will be allowed to pay lower duties on exports of up to 1.25 million tons of steel per year to the US.

The decision ends the 25 percent levies Trump imposed in 2018 on metal imports from the country and others, citing national security concerns.

The dispute with Japan was one of a number Trump initiated during his time in office that Biden has worked to resolve, and follows an agreement Washington reached in 2021 to end the metal tariffs on the European Union.

"The deal we reached will strengthen America's steel industry and ensure its workforce stays competitive, while also providing more access to cheaper steel and addressing a major irritant between the United States and Japan, one of our most important allies," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the deal would "protect a vital American industry, our workers and their families." 

However, the deal does not resolve all the outstanding trade issues between the two countries.

Levies of 10 percent on Japan's aluminum exports will remain for now, while the new tariff system covers less than the 1.8 million tons of steel the US imported from Japan in 2017, the last year before the levies were imposed, according to Commerce Department data.

Japan "regrets" that the US "has taken no steps to address" tariffs on aluminum, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday.

He said Japan sees the announcement about eased levies on steel as a "step forward," however, adding the country will "continue to push the US for complete resolution" of the matter.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing welcomed the agreement, particularly a provision ensuring imported steel must be "melted and poured" in Japan so that other nations don't transship their metals through the country.

The trade group's president Scott Paul said Biden's move widened "the focus on global overcapacity, while maintaining appropriate tools to mitigate threats to our economic and national security."

Trump's Republican administration engaged in a number of trade spats with allies and adversaries alike, many of which were unresolved when Biden took office in January 2021.

Among those were the tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imported from several countries, including the European Union and Japan.