Japan's minister in charge of U.S. tariff negotiations Ryosei Akazawa will make a three-day trip to the United States from Wednesday for bilateral ministerial talks, the government said.
Economic revitalization minister Akazawa, a close aide to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, the Japanese government said Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference, "We will urge the U.S. side to review its tariff measures as we take a whole-of-government approach to producing results as soon as possible," adding the meeting is designed to "build trust" among the relevant ministers.
U.S. President Donald Trump has moved to slap tariffs on his country's trading partners to rectify what he sees as imbalanced trade.
Japan, a close U.S. ally, was not spared, with higher import duties on cars, steel and aluminum, along with a so-called reciprocal tariff, already raising concerns about the potential fallout for the export-driven economy.
The launch of bilateral negotiations was agreed upon when Ishiba and Trump spoke by phone last week.
Ishiba has rejected the idea of making quick concessions to reach an agreement with Washington, though he has expressed reluctance to impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States.
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