Japan will tell US to respect WTO rules: Abe adviser

[TOKYO] Japan will tell the United States in their economic talks that any border tax the US government imposes on imports should not break World Trade Organization rules, an adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday.

Yasutoshi Nishimura also said Japan would not rule out a bilateral trade agreement with the United States, but talks may not start soon because Washington is putting a higher priority on renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement. "We don't want any border tax to violate WTO rules by becoming a tax system intended to promote exports," Mr Nishimura told Reuters in an interview.

"Our position is WTO rules and multilateralism are important and we want to lobby for that."

Mr Abe and US President Donald Trump agreed last month to establish a new framework for economic dialogue to discuss trade and infrastructure investment. The two countries have not set a schedule for their talks.

REUTERS