U. S. President Donald Trump said he had agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday to start talks on a bilateral free trade agreement that
NEW YORK – U. S. President Donald Trump said he had agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday to start talks on a bilateral free trade agreement that Tokyo has been resisting.
“We’ve agreed today to start trade negotiations between the United States and Japan,” Trump said at a summit with Abe in New York on the sidelines of the U. N. General Assembly.
“This was something that for various reasons over the years Japan was unwilling to do and now they are willing to do. So we’re very happy about that, and I’m sure that we will come to a satisfactory conclusion, and if we don’t, ohhhhhh,” Trump said.
Trump has made clear he is unhappy with Japan’s $69 billion trade surplus with the United States — nearly two-thirds of it from auto exports — and wants a two-way agreement to address it.
Japanese officials have been worried that Trump will demand a reduction in Japanese auto imports, and fret that Trump could impose steep import tariffs on autos and auto parts, which would deal a big blow to the export-reliant economy.
