The United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that announcements regarding the trade relationship between the United States and Japan could come in a couple of months. After a meeting with the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, the US president claimed that the trade balance "straightened out rapidly."
“Trade-wise, I think we’ll be announcing some things, probably in August that will be very good for both countries,” said Donald Trump, “We’ll get the balance of trade, I think, straightened out rapidly," he added.
Trump already highlighted on his first day of visit to the Asian country that Japan has a "substantial advantage" in trade matters.
“Japan has had a substantial advantage for many, many years, but that’s okay, maybe that’s why you like us so much,” he said.
The government is aiming for a trade deal with Japan that would fix the trade gap which was at $56.8 billion in goods and services at the end of last year.
“With this deal, we hope to address the trade imbalance, remove the barriers to United States exports and ensure fairness and reciprocity in our relationship,” said the President on Saturday.
The talks went through and despite Trump's decision to ignore Abe's pleas to remove tariffs on steel and aluminum, he decided to delay the new auto tariffs for six months while both parties reach a deal.
Abe, who has strong commercial ties with Iran, is also playing a role in facilitating talks between the United States and Iran, whose political conflict recently escalated.
Besides meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Trump met with the emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, being the first western leader who meets with him since he assumed his post last month.
Trump is waiting for the Japanese parliamentary elections in July and claimed that before then working on a new deal wasn't feasible, therefore it's highly unlikely a working deal will be reached before August.