Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he agreed with Donald Trump in a call on Friday to “accelerate” talks on a trade deal after the US president’s global tariff blitz.
The two leaders will meet face-to-face on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, which begins in Canada on Sunday, Ishiba said.
He told reporters he and Trump agreed in their call to “accelerate discussions toward realising an agreement that would be beneficial to both Japan and the US”.
Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed on most nations plus steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminium.
Trump also announced an additional 24 percent “reciprocal” tariff on Japan in early April but later paused it along with similar measures on other countries until early July.
The two sides remain far apart despite several rounds of talks, with Japan adamant that all levies announced by Trump must be lifted.
Ishiba said he reiterated in the call with Trump, which was proposed by Tokyo, that Japan’s position remained “unchanged”.
Ryosei Akazawa, Tokyo’s trade envoy, told Japanese reporters in Washington last Saturday that some progress had been made during a fifth round of talks.
However, he added: “We’ve not been able to find a point of agreement yet”.
Ishiba said the G7 summit would be a good opportunity for he and Trump to “deepen discussions on the Japan-US relationships”.
The two leaders also discussed Israel’s attacks on Iran on Friday and reaffirmed that “peace and stability in the Middle East is extremely important”.
