Trump urges Japan to drop agriculture tariffs in Abe meet

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump urged Japan to drop its tariffs on American agricultural products as he met PM Shinzo Abe, who for now appears to have deflected the most damaging of US demands on trade.
Trump pushed for the end of the Japanese agricultural levy, while not directly mentioning past threats of sanctions on automobiles. For his part, Abe raised the issue of existing US tariffs on its cars and highlighted the growing number of jobs created in the US by Japan’s investment.
“We’ll be discussing very strongly agriculture because as the prime minister knows Japan puts very massive tariffs on agriculture, our agriculture, for many years, going into Japan, and we want to get rid of those tariffs,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Abe.
Trump told reporters at the White House that the agricultural levies are unfair “because we don’t tariff their cars.” At the same time, Trump praised Japanese automobile companies for investing in the US.
Abe disputed Trump’s account, saying the US has put a 2.5 percent tariff on Japanese autos. The two leaders met as their senior negotiators wrapped up the second round in as many weeks of accelerated talks to reach a trade deal focussed mainly on agriculture and cars.
Japan had dragged its feet on starting the talks for over two years in the hopes that the US may return to the successor deal to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump withdrew the US from during his first days in office.
Other countries’ farmers have gotten preferential access to Japan as a result of deals Abe has struck with them since Trump pulled out of the TPP.
This week’s talks were mostly focussed on confirming the content of the discussions.
Japan’s chief trade negotiator Toshimitsu Motegi signalled the country would be seeking substantial concessions from the US, saying any agreement could require American congressional approval. Trump had emphasized the speed at which he expects the talks to move forward by saying that a deal could be signed by the time he comes to Japan in May.
Motegi also said that Trump did not make any requests regarding restrictions on auto export volume, currencies and new types of services.
In Washington, Motegi met with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer while Finance Minister Taro Aso held separate discussions with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Aso said that he told Mnuchin that Japan opposes linking currency policy to trade negotiations.
The US Trade Representative has included a provision on currencies in its list of negotiating goals with Japan, and the US has included references to currency in several recent trade deals, including the successor to Nafta, known as USMCA.
Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters that it’s still in discussions with the US on who will attend the G20 leaders’ summit in June.