UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States and Japan announced Wednesday they will open negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement between the world’s first- and third…
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States and Japan announced Wednesday they will open negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement between the world’s first- and third-largest economies.
It’s a significant shift by Tokyo which has been a strong advocate of a multi-nation trans-Pacific trade pact that President Donald Trump withdrew from soon after taking office.
Trump made the announcement after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in New York on the sidelines of the U. N. General Assembly.
He said that Japan had been unwilling in the past to enter into such talks, but now is and such a deal “will be something very exciting.”
Abe has cultivated close ties with Trump since after his 2016 election but trade relations have been difficult, since the Republican president withdrew from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Trade Pact that had been negotiated by the Obama administration and championed by Abe despite considerable domestic political opposition in Japan .
The Trump administration, pushing to narrow the U. S. trade imbalance with Japan, has since imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on its ally.
