US, Japan agree to deal in principle: Trump
BIARRITZ, FRANCEL: President Donald Trump yesterday said the US and Japan have agreed to a deal in principle.
The deal will be signed probably next month around the date of the United Nations general assembly, he said.
Earlier, speaking shortly before holding talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Mr Trump had said the US was "very close to a major deal with Japan".
The two sides have "been working on it for five months", he told reporters at the start of a separate meeting held with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"It's a very big deal. It will be one of the biggest deals we've ever made with Japan," Mr Trump said.
Japan's minister in charge of trade talks with the US, Mr Toshimitsu Motegi, reported "great progress".
The two leaders enjoy close ties but the US president has frequently claimed that Tokyo has an unfair advantage in bilateral trade.
Negotiators have agreed Japan will place tariffs on US agricultural products up to levels that apply to members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, Japan's public broadcaster NHK and major Japanese national dailies reported.
Both sides agreed that Japan will cut tariffs on US beef and pork to the TPP levels, but will not set new quotas for butter and skim milk, NHK said, citing unnamed sources.- AFP
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