Japan

Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s economic revitalization minister, said this week that “early results” of a U.S.-Japan free trade deal would be achieved soon after the country’s parliamentary elections end in July.

TSUKUBA, JAPAN – G20 trade ministers concluded their summit here this weekend with a joint statement and a chairs’ statement outlining a “need” to ameliorate the global trading environment and undertake World Trade Organization reform “with a sense of urgency.”

TSUKUBA, JAPAN – G20 trade negotiators on Saturday issued a joint statement on digital economy policies that Japanese officials hope will pave the way for plurilateral e-commerce talks to gain momentum at the broader G20 summit in Osaka in a few weeks.

TSUKUBA, JAPAN – U.S. and Japanese trade officials will hold working-level meetings in Washington, DC, beginning next Monday, a Japanese official told Inside U.S. Trade.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declined to discuss a time frame.

Ministers said they instructed staff to “continue efforts to finalize trilateral text-based work ... to engage with other key WTO Members with the aim of initiating negotiations on stronger disciplines on industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises.”

A round up of reactions to the Trump administration’s auto tariff delay announcement.

The two sides had reportedly hope to hold negotiations before President Trump travels to Japan on May 25.

The U.S. and Japan could reach a quick trade deal and present a unified front against China at the G-20 summit next month by borrowing heavily from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a source close to the Abe administration told Inside U.S. Trade.