[CTC] Abe to Tout Japan’s U.S. Investment Plans in Trump Meeting

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/abe-to-tout-japans-benefits-to-u-s-in-trump-meeting-1486373098 <https://www.wsj.com/articles/abe-to-tout-japans-benefits-to-u-s-in-trump-meeting-1486373098>
Abe to Tout Japan’s U.S. Investment Plans in Trump Meeting

Japan’s leader plans to discuss job creation and investment in the U.S. after American president’s criticisms

Mitsuru Obe
Feb. 6, 2017 4:24 a.m. ET 
TOKYO—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to offer a vision for greater Japanese investment in the U.S. when meeting President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, seeking to counter the president’s criticism about trade, Japanese officials said.

Mr. Abe’s five-pronged program, titled “U.S.-Japan Growth and Employment Initiative,” says the two nations could work together to generate 700,000 jobs in the U.S. and create new markets worth $450 billion over the next decade, the officials said. The program doesn’t detail how those numbers could be reached through specific projects or corporate investments.

Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Mr. Trump has criticized Japan several times. <https://www.wsj.com/articles/japan-trade-surplus-follows-trumps-criticism-of-tokyos-advantage-1485315643> He suggested that Tokyo does “things to us that make it impossible to sell cars in Japan” and described Tokyo’s monetary policy as an unfair way to devalue the yen and make business easier for Japanese exporters.

Underlining Japan’s skittishness over its crucial U.S. ties, Mr. Abe became the first world leader to meet Mr. Trump in person  <https://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-shinzo-abe-to-address-security-alliance-at-donald-trump-meeting-1479404692>in New York after Mr. Trump was elected in November.


Mr. Abe has said he planned to highlight investment by Japanese companies in the U.S. As of 2014, the number of U.S. jobs at Japanese companies totaled 840,000, while the cumulative total of Japanese investments in the U.S. more than doubled over a decade to $411 billion as of 2015, according to the most recently available data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Last week, Mr. Abe said he would tell Mr. Trump that Japanese companies “have contributed to improving the competitiveness and productivity of U.S. manufacturing industries.” He said he wanted to lay out a “package of programs” to generate jobs and growth in the U.S. 

American critics of Japan point to the country’s roughly $60 billion annual trade surplus with the U.S. Japanese exports of cars and car parts account for a big portion of that. American cars have a minuscule market share in Japan <https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-cars-in-japan-lost-in-translation-1485424912>. Some U.S. makers say Tokyo puts up hidden barriers, while Japanese officials observe that the imported cars face no tariffs and say consumers simply aren’t attracted to American models.

Japan had hoped to deflect such criticism by bringing the U.S. into a 12-nation trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but Mr. Trump withdrew from the accord. The American leader has expressed a preference for two-way trade deals. Mr. Abe says he’s open to that idea, but two-way negotiations could bring tough U.S. demands involving the sale of American cars in Japan and the value of the dollar against the yen.

“Chances are since this is a bilateral discussion rather than a multilateral one, the U.S. will demand more concessions,” said Peter Petri, a professor of international finance at Brandeis International Business School.

Japanese officials involved in planning Mr. Abe’s trip said he hoped to make the case for more cooperation through the five-part package. One of the parts discusses correcting trade imbalances but suggests this could be brought about through greater exports of U.S. natural gas to Japan  <https://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-lng-market-beckons-u-s-exporters-1486209603>rather than through barriers to Japanese goods.

The package says Japan could participate in U.S. infrastructure projects worth $150 billion, such as the construction of high-speed railways in Texas and California. Tokyo has long urged the U.S. to accept its help and financing for high-speed rail, hoping to export Japanese technology for the projects.

To support the assertion that the two nations could create new markets worth $450 billion, the package also mentions robotics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and aerospace as fields for cooperation and says U.S. and Japanese companies could undertake joint projects in Asia such as supplying passenger jets and nuclear power plants.


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