|
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets U.S.
President Barack Obama in Washington.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK said a joint statement after the
meeting would probably refer to "substantial progress" in
negotiations between the two countries on a trade deal and would
talk of them cooperating to move towards an agreement on the
12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact
However, Amari told a news conference: "The most we could expect
in a joint statement is to say there is 'welcome progress' (on a
Japan-U.S. trade deal)."
The trade negotiations between the two are seen as crucial for
the wider TPP as their economies account for 80 percent of the
group involved in the talks.
Amari said progress had been made on some aspects of the trade
talks between the two countries but other aspects were
"deadlocked" and he expected the two leaders to instruct
officials to make efforts towards an early agreement.
The two leaders are unlikely to discuss details of the trade
deal.
The White House said last week it did not expect a formal
announcement on the Japan-U.S. trade deal during Abe's visit.
(Reporting by Takashi Umekara; Writing by Kaori Kaneko; Editing
by Alan Raybould)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
