US And Japan Agree To Begin Talks on Trade

The U.S. and Japan have agreed to begin talks on a set of "free, fair and reciprocal trade deals" to promote economic development in the Indo-Pacific, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday after he failed to secure exemptions for steel and aluminum tariffs imposed in March by Trump."In order to benefit both Japan and the US, we'll further expand both trade and investment between the two countries," Abe said during a joint news conference with Trump after their summit meeting in Mar-a-Lago. Abe did not say Japan was going to start talks on a bilateral free trade agreement with the US, emphasizing that Tokyo still believes that the CPTPP (the successor to TPP) is the best choice for both countries. Trump withdrew from that pact on his third day in office.