Tokyo: The new US ambassador to Japan said Friday he was “extremely optimistic” that the two countries will agree a trade deal, after Tokyo’s envoy held talks in Washington.
“I’ve met now with most of the principals who are in the room and doing the negotiating and talking this through. And I’m extremely optimistic that a deal will get done,” George Glass told reporters.
“We have two very sophisticated economies that are very successful, and they are two of the top five economies of the world,” he said at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
“And we have the best and the brightest from Japan there doing the negotiations. We have the best and brightest from the United States.
“The secretary of Treasury, the secretary of commerce are both people that I know and have spoken with and are brilliant in their fields,” he said.
“And when I saw that President Trump then decided he was going to get involved and has now named this his top priority, that’s why I have a lot of confidence that we’ll get something done,” Glass said.
Japanese companies are the biggest investors into the United States and Japan is a vital strategic ally for Washington in the Asia-Pacific region.
But Japan is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed by Trump on most countries as well as painful steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminum.
US President Donald Trump also imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on Japan of 24 percent, although these have been paused for 90 days along with those on other countries except China.
Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa met Trump on Wednesday and held talks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
There was no immediate breakthrough, although the next round of negotiations is scheduled before the end of the month.
US ambassador to Japan ‘extremely optimistic’ about trade deal
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US ambassador to Japan ‘extremely optimistic’ about trade deal
- Japanese companies are the biggest investors into the United States
- US President Donald Trump also imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on Japan of 24 percent
Britain, Japan agree to deepen defense and security cooperation
- “We set out a clear priority to build an even deeper partnership in the years to come,” Starmer said
- Takaichi said they agreed to hold a meeting of British and Japanese foreign and defense ministers this year
TOKYO: Britain and Japan agreed to strengthen defense and economic ties, visiting Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday, after his bid to forge closer links with China drew warnings from US President Donald Trump.
Starmer noted that Japan and Britain were the leading economies in a trans-Pacific that includes fellow G7 member Canada, as well as other international trade and defense pacts.
“We set out a clear priority to build an even deeper partnership in the years to come,” Starmer said as he stood beside Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after a bilateral meeting in Tokyo.
“That includes working together to strengthen our collective security, across the Euro-Atlantic and in the Indo-Pacific.”
Takaichi said they agreed to hold a meeting of British and Japanese foreign and defense ministers this year.
She said she also wanted to discuss “cooperation toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific, the Middle East situation and Ukraine situation” at a dinner with Starmer later on Saturday.
Starmer arrived on a one-day Tokyo stop after a four-day visit in China, where he followed in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.
Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have all traveled to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump’s bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against NATO allies.
Trump warned on Thursday it was “very dangerous” for its close ally Britain to be dealing with China, although Starmer brushed off those comments.
Tokyo’s ties with Beijing have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily during a potential attack on Taiwan.
China regards the self-ruled democratic island as its territory.
Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.
He also signed a series of agreements there, with Downing Street announcing Beijing had agreed to visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for under 30 days.
No start date for that arrangement has been given yet.
Takaich said the two leaders agreed during discussions on economic security that a strengthening of supply chains “including important minerals is urgently needed.”
There is concern that Beijing could choke off exports of the rare earths crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
China, the world’s leading producer of such minerals, announced new export controls in October on rare earths and associated technologies.
They have also been a major sticking point in trade negotiations between China and the United States.
Britain, Japan and Italy are also developing a new fighter jet after Tokyo relied for decades on the United States for military hardware.
