Japan to Regret without Trade Deal with U.S.: Trump

September 9, 2018

Washington- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Japan will regret it if no trade agreement is reached with the United States.

The United States is starting trade talks with Japan, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"If we don't make a deal with Japan, Japan knows it's a big problem for them," he said, expressing his eagerness to strike a bilateral trade accord to cut a U.S. trade deficit with Japan.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters indicated that Trump sees trade barriers to Japanese and other markets as a problem.

Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe in April agreed to boost bilateral trade, she said, adding that the two countries are working closely to address trade barriers mainly through bilateral economic dialogue.

Meanwhile, Trump said that the United States is ready to impose new tariffs on a further 267 billion dollars' worth of imports from China.

Including the already announced tariffs, such as the planned levies affecting 200 billion dollars' worth of goods, Trump's tariff program will cover all U.S. imports from China exceeding 500 billion dollars.

The planned 200-billion-dollar tariffs "could take place very soon," Trump said. "There's another 267 billion dollars ready to go on short notice, if I want." Washington imposed fresh tariffs on 34 billion dollars' worth of vehicles, high-technology and other products from China in July and 16 billion dollars in Chinese chemical and other products in August. Jiji Press