Trade Is On The Agenda Between Trump & Shinzo Besides Nuclear Talks
Trade Is On The Agenda Between Trump & Shinzo Besides Nuclear Talks: US President Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his South Florida resort. On a week tour to US, Japense PM Shinzo presented Trump with a $3,755 golf driver. Abe’s father, who also served as prime minister, once golfed with President Eisenhower.
Nuclear Talk
Trump last month accepted an invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It is expected that nuclear diplomacy is expected to be a dominant focus of this week’s meeting between Trump and Abe.
Trump said the U.S. has already entered into direct talks with North Korea at “extremely high levels.” He said there appears to be a lot of good will but cautioned that ultimately it is the end result that counts. The two leaders when met last year and were having dinner at the president’s club when news arrived that North Korea had fired a test missile into the Sea of Japan.
“President Trump has a team of people working for him now who have extensive experience dealing with the North Korean nuclear menace,” said Matt Pottinger, the National Security Council’s senior director for Asian affairs.
Trump has also welcomed upcoming talks between North and South Korea, while expecting that the prospect of talks might produce an actual peace treaty to replace the decades old cease fire.
Trade Talk
Trade is also on the agenda for Trump and Abe. Japan is feeling the squeeze of a new 25% tariff the Trump administration has imposed on steel imports. While other U.S. allies such as Canada and South Korea won a amnesty from those tariffs, Japan has not. Trump has used the stick of steel tariffs to win concessions from other trading partners, and that may be his goal with Japan. The U.S. had a trade deficit with Japan last year of $56 billion. Last week, Trump tweeted that he’s working toward a trade deal with the country, “who has hit us hard on trade for years.” Japan, however, has shown little interest in bilateral trade talks with the U.S.
- Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Japan has spent considerable political capital to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact advanced by the Obama administration. Japan and the other TPP nations have forged ahead with the agreement without the U.S. involvement. Trump tweeted that he would only rejoin TPP if he could do so on much better terms — which the other countries are unlikely to grant.
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