TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa has canceled a visit to the United States this week, a government source said, as media outlets reported talks designed to finalise details of an investment pact were postponed due to administrative delays.
Akazawa had planned to visit the U.S. on Thursday to craft a written confirmation of the financial details of the $550 billion U.S.-bound investment package offered by Tokyo in return for Washington lowering tariffs on imports from the world’s fourth largest economy.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also said there would be an announcement this week on Japan’s investment.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK and news agency Kyodo said that several issues were still to be settled in working level talks before the ministers could meet. A government source familiar with the negotiations, speaking on anonymity, said that Akazawa could head to Washington as early next week after the outstanding issues were resolved.
Washington and Tokyo agreed in July to set a reduced 15% tariff on imports from Japan in exchange for the package of U.S.-bound investment through government-backed loans and guarantees, but details of its contents remain unclear.
While Trump has touted the package as “our money to invest” and said the U.S. would retain 90% of the profits earned, Japanese officials have stressed that the investments will be determined based on whether they will also benefit Japan.
Japanese officials have repeatedly said they would rather have an amended presidential executive order first to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods before releasing a joint document on the investment details.
The United States has agreed to amend the July 31 presidential order to ensure that a 15% levy agreed last month on Japanese imports was not stacked on goods, such as beef, that are subject to higher tariffs.
U.S. officials have also said Trump would issue another order to lower tariffs on Japanese cars to 15% from 27.5%, but did not specify when.
(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko, Makiko Yamazaki and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Jamie Freed, Kim Coghill and Saad Sayeed)
