[CTC] Japanese press secretary: Currency didn't come up in Abe's meeting with Trump

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Politico Pro
Japanese press secretary: Currency didn't come up in Abe's meeting with Trump

By Adam Behsudi <https://www.politicopro.com/staff/adam-behsudi>
President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe skirted the issue of currency valuation during a meeting on economic issues at the White House today, a spokesman for Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters.

Trump received multiple letters from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle ahead of Abe’s arrival, urging him to address the issue of currency manipulation with the Japanese leader. Ford Motor Company and other companies have forcefully argued the Japanese government has undervalued the yen to give Japanese exporters a trade advantage.

“The Japanese-U.S. economic relationship, once it has been characterized by the world as having frictions, but we agreed that is resigned to the past,” said Press Secretary Norio Maruyama.

Maruyama gave a few more details about a planned economic dialogue between Vice President Mike Pence and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. Pence has been invited to Japan for the meeting, which is expected to tackle three areas, including: fiscal and financial policies; cooperation on infrastructure related to energy, cyber and space issues; and broader trade and economic issues.

On the trade component, Maruyama clarified that the dialogue doesn’t necessarily represent the start of bilateral trade negotiations.

Japan is still discussing the future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the other signatories to the agreement where “a lot of new ideas are coming up,” Maruyama also said.
A joint statement <https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/10/joint-statement-president-donald-j-trump-and-prime-minister-shinzo-abe> issued after the meeting said Japan would continue to “advance regional progress on the basis of existing initiatives.”

Trump signed an order last month scrapping U.S. support for the deal, but Japan still views the TPP as both strategically and economically important for the region.

On the U.S. side, National Economic Council Chairman Gary Cohn and National Trade Council Chairman Peter Navarro attended the economic discussion between the two leaders, Maruyama said.
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