Washington DC, August 2: The United States and Japan agreed to boost trade talks, Japanese economy minister Toshimitsu Motegi has on Thursday said after concluding a meeting with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer.
According to Reuters news reports, Motegi, while interacting with journalists following the very first day of face-to-face dialogues in Washington DC, stated trade talks went positive and progressing, but stepped back from offering comments over individual items.
After concluding the meeting with Lighthizer, Motegi told reporters, “We agreed to speed up talks.”
He added, “There is no doubt that talks are moving along. We have not completely agreed at the moment, so we will deepen our talks.”
US President Donald Trump has reiterated he was unhappy with Tokyo’s trade surplus with Washington, mostly from auto exports, and seeks a bilateral arrangement to fix that.
Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Japan to speed up dialogues to reach a bilateral accord that would disclose Tokyo’s shield agriculture markets, for example, rice and beef.
When asked about any agreement’s prospect, the minister stated he and his US counterpart did not discuss detailing of the timing and meeting.
“We share the understanding that we don’t have much time,” Motegi told reporters. They are slated to resume talks on Friday.