Posted on 20 Apr 2018
US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday said they had failed to reach a deal that would exempt Japan from new US steel and aluminum tariffs, as Abe had wanted.
Instead, the leaders announced they had agreed to start talks on a new “free, fair and reciprocal” trade agreement between the two countries following two days of talks.
“If we can come to an arrangement on a new deal, that would certainly be something we would discuss,” Trump said when asked about the tariffs during a joint news conference at his private Mar-a-Lago club.
However, he said the current trade deficit between the two countries was too high to merit an exemption now.
According to the US Department of Commerce, the trade deficit was US$56.1 billion last year.
It was a disappointment for Japan. Most other key US allies — among them Australia, Canada, the EU and Mexico — have already been granted exemptions to Trump’s protectionist measures.
Japan has also previously voiced reluctance to negotiating a bilateral trade deal with the US, saying it would prefer the US to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
However, Abe appeared to win assurances from Trump that he and the president were on the same page when it comes to his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Perhaps the most significant for Abe: Trump’s promise to raise with Kim the issue of Japanese citizens who have been abducted by the North.
Trump said it was clear from their discussions that the abductees were “one of the truly most important things on Shinzo’s mind.”
Trump said he wanted to see the “families reunited as soon as possible.”
