Japan may be forced into bilateral trade deal with U.S.
2018-04-01 09:52:15 source：Asahi Shimbun
March 31, 2018
Japan will have little choice but to enter into a bilateral trade deal with the United States similar to one President Donald Trump clinched with South Korea, a former top Japanese currency diplomat said.
Naoyuki Shinohara, who was also deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund, said Washington will keep pushing for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan given Trump's "America First" agenda--and Tokyo's calls to use a multilateral framework will only buy it some time.
"The United States is only interested in a bilateral deal and probably won't listen to Japanese calls for a multilateral approach on trade," said Shinohara, who retains close contact with international financial diplomats.
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