Abe, Trump Vow to Boost Japan-U.S. Trade, Investment

Washington, Feb. 10 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed Friday to start a new economic dialogue to boost trade and investment between the two countries, while leaving currency issues to their finance ministers. The new dialogue may lead to free trade talks between Tokyo and Washington, although Trump did not propose concluding a bilateral trade pact after his decision to pull the United States out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, informed sources said. Since taking office in January, Trump has been criticizing Japan for guiding the yen lower for many years. But Abe and Trump did not hold specific discussions on currencies at their first summit held at the White House, according to a senior Japanese government official. Instead, the two leaders agreed that their finance ministers will continue to discuss currency issues closely. Abe proposed that the currency issues be left to their finance chiefs in order to prevent them from becoming a topic for discussions at their summit, sources familiar with the situation said. At a joint press conference held after the summit, Abe said that Japan aims to contribute to creating more jobs in the United States by providing its cutting-edge technologies such as Shinkansen bullet trains. Abe claimed that Japanese companies, mainly automakers, invested more than 150 billion dollars in the United States last year alone. Still, it remain unknown whether Abe was able to win understanding from Trump about Japanese companies' contribution to the U.S. economy as the president has repeatedly criticized Japan for being unfair in auto trade with the United States and guiding its currency lower, critics said. At the joint press conference, Trump said, "We will seek a trading relationship that is free, fair and reciprocal, benefiting both of our countries." On currencies, Trump said that "we will all eventually--and probably very much sooner than a lot of people understand or think--we will be all at a level playing field, because that's the only way it's fair." At the new economic dialogue to be led by Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, the Japanese government is expected to face direct pressure from Trump's these policies, informed sources said. END