Sharjah24 - Reuters: The United States and Japan announced on Wednesday a new trade partnership to boost cooperation on labor, environment and digital trade issues, with an emphasis on "third country concerns," a reference to China's state-driven economic policies.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who is in Tokyo to meet with new Japanese government ministers, said initial meetings of the U.S.-Japan Partnership on Trade would take place early in 2022, with periodic meetings on a regular basis.
"This partnership will deepen the cooperation between the United States and Japan that has defined our strong bilateral trade relationship," Tai said in a statement issued by her office in Washington.
"Our close collaboration will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s economic framework for the Indo-Pacific and help create sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and competitive trade policies that lift up our people and economies."
USTR's statement made no mention of the new forum as a body aimed at negotiating new trade agreements between the world's largest and third-largest economies.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told Tai at the start of talks in Tokyo that the aim was to further deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance and strengthen bilateral coordination to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific.
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