FILE PHOTO – Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso arrives to attend a visit and a dinner at the Orsay Museum on the eve of the commemoration ceremony for Armistice Day, 100 years after the end of the First World War, in Paris, France, November 10, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
November 13, 2018
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said he was scheduled to meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday, but their meeting would not be part of the economic dialogue between the two countries.
Aso, speaking to reporters after a cabinet meting, said he did not expect to discuss auto tariffs with Pence and that there were many issues besides trade policy that they could discuss.
Pence, in Japan on Tuesday during a visit to Asia, will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for talks that are expected to touch on economic ties between the two security allies as well as North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Pence’s visit comes after Trump said trade was one area in which he hoped to work with U.S. Democrats, who won control of the House of Representatives in last week’s midterm elections.
Trump has criticized Japan over trade, asserting that Tokyo treats the United States unfairly by shipping millions of cars to North America while blocking imports of U.S. autos and farm products such as beef and rice. Japan says its markets for manufactured goods are open, although it does protect politically sensitive farm products.
In September, Abe and Trump agreed to start trade talks in an arrangement that appeared, temporarily at least, to protect Japanese automakers from further tariffs on their exports, which make up about two-thirds of Japan’s $69 billion trade surplus with the United States.
Japan has insisted the new Trade Agreement on Goods (TAG) would not be a wide-ranging free trade agreement (FTA), but U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said he was aiming for a full free trade deal requiring approval by Congress.
In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump pledged to work toward denuclearization at a summit in Singapore, but have made little headway since on specific steps.
A planned meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials in New York on Thursday was canceled. The State Department gave no reason for the delay.
A U.S. think tank said on Monday it had identified at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases inside North Korea, underscoring the challenge for U.S. negotiators to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Japan has said it will not normalize relations with Pyongyang, until it takes irreversible and verifiable steps to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and reveals the fate of all Japanese kidnapped by North Korean agents and return any who may still be alive.
(Reporting by Stanley White; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
