The Japanese and US governments are arranging a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump in Washington around February 10, a diplomatic source said Thursday. The two leaders are expected to discuss trade issues following Trump’s issuing of an executive order Monday to , a 12-party free trade pact Abe has hailed as having both economic benefits and strategic importance. The meeting would be their first since Trump’s inauguration last week. Abe and Trump held an in November last year shortly after Trump’s election victory. In dumping the TPP, Trump has said he wants to focus on negotiating bilateral trade deals instead. Speaking in the Diet Thursday, Abe appeared to signal openness to working out a Japan-US free trade agreement or economic partnership agreement. “We will appeal (to the US administration) on the TPP, but that doesn’t mean we absolutely can’t also (sign) an EPA or FTA, as we did with (fellow TPP signatory) Australia,” Abe said.
