The first round of Japan-U.S. economic dialogue between Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was held at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on April 18.
When the number two men of Japanese and U.S. governments kicked off the economic dialogue, they did not exchange views in details on key trade issues including automobiles and farm products.
In the joint press release published shortly after the meeting, however, the two governments confirmed that they will discuss on a subject of “a bilateral framework for setting high trade and investment standards.”
At the press conference held after the meeting, furthermore, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence made an in-depth remark, saying “The economic dialogue may result in bilateral free trade negotiations.”
At the first round of the dialogue, Japan and U.S. agreed to structure the economic dialogue along three policy pillars, namely “common strategy on trade and investment rules,” “cooperation in economic and structural policies,” and “sectoral cooperation in the fields of infrastructure and energy.”
In the joint press release, Taro Aso and Mike Pence said that they will talk about “a bilateral framework for setting high trade standards” and agreed that “the dialogue should generate concrete results in the near term.”
The bilateral framework will include trade rules as well as market accesses including tariff issues.