Anonymous ID: 1494bb Dec. 2, 2018, 6:52 a.m. No.4113342   🗄️.is đź”—kun

A different take on G20

 

Trump puts Japan in cross-hairs after trade truce with China

 

ex

Dec 2, 2018

 

BUENOS AIRES – Now that U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to a cease-fire with Chinese leader Xi Jinping over a trade war between their countries, Trump appears certain to shift his focus toward crafting a bilateral trade deal with Japan.

 

After signing a revamped trade pact Friday with Mexico and Canada with better terms for the United States, Trump agreed with Xi on Saturday to work to resolve issues such as forced technology transfer and intellectual property protection in exchange for suspending new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports for 90 days.

 

The developments on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires came as Washington readies for negotiations with Tokyo on a bilateral trade deal that could come as early as mid-January. Trump has repeatedly voiced his determination to slash Japan’s trade surplus with the United States.

 

Advocating “fair” and “reciprocal” trade, Trump has called for reducing the U.S. trade deficit with trading partners such as China, Mexico and Japan — the first to third-biggest generators of goods trade deficit with the United States last year.

 

Under Trump’s “America First” mantra, addressing trade imbalances with these countries is a top agenda item in his 2020 re-election bid, especially after his Republican Party lost a majority in the House of Representatives in the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

 

In a meeting Friday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Argentina’s capital, Trump called the U.S. trade deficit with Japan “massive” and “pretty substantial.”

 

“We hope that we’re going to be balancing it very quickly,” he added.

 

While Japanese officials insist Tokyo and Washington aim for a bilateral trade agreement on goods only, U.S. officials have pushed for the inclusion of services and even a provision to prevent currency devaluations in an envisaged deal.

 

Analysts are watching how the Trump administration will balance its ambitions for a comprehensive pact, like a free trade agreement with the U.S. agricultural industry’s thirst for a deal, when other farming nations such as Australia and Canada are gaining greater access to the Japanese market through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-nation FTA that will enter into force on Dec. 30.

 

Similarly, Japan and the European Union are speeding up domestic procedures for the early enforcement of an FTA, making U.S. farmers and ranchers less competitive than their European counterparts in terms of access to the world’s third-largest economy.

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this is going to hurt Abe big time. imo he needs to go as he is not well liked any longer. had plenty of contact with mainland japanese last week in Hon. They are not happy when pressed for opinion-that in itself is hard to do as they do not like to talk to westerners about internal politics.

 

rest here

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/02/business/trump-puts-japan-crosshairs-trade-truce-china/