Trump says to push Japan for freer trade; calls ties better than ever

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Monday to push for a free and balanced trade partnership with Japan after decades of “massive trade deficits” but said relations with close ally Tokyo were “better than we have ever had”.

“The United States has suffered massive trade deficits at the hands of Japan for many, many years,” Trump said at the start of a meeting with Japanese and U.S. business leaders on the second day of a 12-day Asian trip that will focus on both trade and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the start of a working lunch with Trump, offered his “heart-felt condolences” for the victims of a gunman who massacred at least 26 worshippers at a church in Texas.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump, who earlier expressed grief for the victims, had no plans at this time to change the schedule for his 12-day Asian trip, which will also take him to Seoul, Beijing and Danang, Vietnam.

Trump praised Japan for buying U.S. military hardware, which he said was the “best military equipment in the world”, but added that “many millions of cars are sold by Japan into the United States, whereas virtually no cars go from the United States into Japan”.

“We want free and reciprocal trade but right now our trade with Japan is not free and it’s not reciprocal and I know it will be and we’ve started the process,” Trump said. “I have no doubt that it will be done in a quick and very friendly manner.”

Later, at the start of their formal talks, Trump told Abe the two sides were making “tremendous progress” on both trade and North Korea, the other focus of his trip.

INDO-PACIFIC FRAMEWORK

Trump also said Washington wants to make the United States the most attractive place to hire, invest and grow.

Japan had a $69-billion trade surplus with the United States last year, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The United States was Japan’s second biggest trade partner after China, while Japan was the United States’ fourth largest goods export market in 2016.

Japanese officials have countered U.S. trade complaints by noting Tokyo accounts for a much smaller slice of the U.S. deficit than in the past, while China’s imbalance is bigger.

In a second round of economic talks in Washington last month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as deputy premier, failed to bridge differences on thorny trade issues.