Japan and US officials hold talks to advance trade negotiations
Japan Times | 11 June 2019
Japan and U.S. officials hold talks to advance trade negotiations
Kyodo/Washington - Officials from Japan and the United States started a two-day meeting Monday in Washington to advance negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement.
The working-level meeting comes ahead of talks Thursday in the U.S. capital between Japanese economic revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
The two sides are expected to focus on each other’s calls for tariff reductions on automobiles and agricultural products, a key issue for bilateral negotiations.
Japan is expected to offer cuts in tariffs on American farm products to levels agreed to under a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership, if the United States agrees to remove levies on Japanese industrial goods, including automobiles.
The revised TPP, formally known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, is an 11-nation regional free trade agreement that includes Japan and farming nations Australia and Canada.
President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the TPP in 2017, citing his preference for bilateral trade deals.
The Trump administration has expressed reluctance to remove auto-related tariffs, though the U.S. leader does appear poised to appease American farmers with increased market access to Japan as part of his 2020 re-election bid.
Last month, however, Trump indicated that Washington would not press Tokyo for a bilateral trade deal until after a Japanese House of Councilors election slated for July, apparently taking into consideration Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s desire to avoid pressure to cut tariffs on agricultural goods — a sensitive issue for farmers — ahead of the vote.
Japan has been calling for the elimination of U.S. tariffs on Japanese vehicles, including a 2.5 percent levy on cars and a 25 percent duty on trucks as had been agreed by former President Barack Obama’s administration during TPP negotiations.
