Tokyo understands Washington’s desire to negotiate greater access to the Japanese market and efforts to reach a new trade agreement should bear fruit soon, a top US trade official said Wednesday. The testimony by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer comes a week efore US officials are due to meet Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of he Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, according to Lighthizer, agency reports.
He told a House of Representatives panel on taxes and trade duties that US armers are now at a disadvantage in exporting to Japan, which has entered a ew trade agreement with Europe and is also party to the Transpacific artnership — giving Australian and Canadian exporters an advantage over the nited States.
President Donald Trump withdrew from the TPP on his first full day in ffice in 2017, claiming it would have led to job losses and further erosion f US manufacturing. We understand the nature of this problem and we have to resolve it ecause if we don’t, these farmers are gonna lose that market, because of othing they did, just because Japan gave more access to somebody else, and hey may never get those markets back,” Lighthizer said in a second onsecutive day of congressional testimony.
“And the Japanese understand completely our position and I’m hopeful that e’ll have something resolved in the weeks and months ahead, but there’s an normous amount of urgency.” uring a meeting in Tokyo last month with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo be, Trump complained of the sizeable US trade deficit with Japan, which mounted to $67.2 billion in goods last year.
Trump expects to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 summit his week in an effort to rescue trade negotiations that appeared to collapse ast month.
American officials accused their Chinese counterparts of backsliding on ommitments made in the talks. Lighthizer said he was hopeful the talks could esume productively.
“My speculation is that some forces in China decided that they had gone oo far, went out beyond their mandate,” he said.
“I have trust and complete good faith in the people that I’m dealing ith… My hope is we can get back on track.”
If not, trade relations face the prospect of deteriorating drastically. ighthizer’s office is currently holding public hearings on plans to mpose steep tariffs on $300 billion more in Chinese imports, or all emaining Chinese goods not currently subject to punitive duties.
He also said the United States could respond “very strongly” to French lans to adopt a digital services tax that Lighthizer claimed could hit merican companies “disproportionately.”
French lawmakers have proposed a three percent tax on gross income, rather han profits, from certain digital businesses.
“I believe the president will respond strongly to that,” Lighthizer said. he United States also hopes to resolve trade differences with India after erminating New Delhi’s duty-free access benefits under the Generalized ystem of Preferences — a measure that took effect this month, according to ighthizer.
US officials accuse India of placing improper barriers to that country’s arket on US goods. It’s a massive economy. It’s only gonna get bigger and it’s a great pportunity for a lot of American farmers and businesses,” he said. Having said that, we have a series of problems with them… I have a new ounterpart and I will talk with him in the next few days.” ighthizer is also currently in fraught talks with Democrats in the House f Representatives, who say in principle they favor approving the new United
States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement but have reservations over enforcement f Mexican labor laws, among other qualms.
Lighthizer has pledged to help address these concerns but warned against xcessive delays, saying the United States risks a “catastrophe” if the reaty is not ratified and that thousands of jobs are at stake.
