Japan's trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and his U.S. counterpart Katherine Tai affirmed Wednesday further cooperation in advancing negotiations of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to set high trade standards amid concerns over China's growing clout.
"I hope that Japan and the United States will lead efforts to build resilient supply chains among like-minded nations, who share the fundamental value of freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law," Nishimura said at the outset of the meeting in Tokyo.
Tai said in response that she appreciates "Japan's leadership in partnering with the United States on the collaboration (in the IPEF)," adding it is "really an exciting initiative" that the two allies have been undertaking together.
The negotiations of the 14-nation IPEF center around four policy pillars -- fair trade, supply chain resilience, clean energy with decarbonization and infrastructure, as well as proper taxation and anti-corruption.
Nishimura has indicated the IPEF partners would like to broadly agree on the direction of negotiation outcomes at ministerial talks in the United States next month.
The U.S.-led initiative is regarded as a symbol of the world's biggest economy's reengagement in the fast-growing region after its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal in 2017, with President Joe Biden's administration hoping to conclude a deal this year, possibly around the time of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum economies in November.
Earlier Wednesday, Tai, the U.S. trade representative, also met with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, ensuring cooperation to counter economic coercion, among other issues.
Tai's two-day trip to Japan followed the U.S.-Japan deal in March on critical minerals that are key to strengthening their supply chains for electric vehicle batteries and the launch of a task force to address forced labor and other human rights issues in supply chains in January.
Biden launched the IPEF during his visit to Japan last May in a bid to strengthen economic ties with key economies in the Indo-Pacific, which accounts for about 40 percent of the global economy, to establish rules and norms in the global trading order.
The IPEF currently groups Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. Canada is also seeking to join the framework.
