WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday it is possible that the United States and Japan could reach a new bilateral trade deal by the time he visits Tokyo in May, but he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cited areas where they differ on trade.

Trump and Abe held one-on-one talks in the Oval Office prior to a White House dinner to celebrate the birthday of Trump’s wife, Melania. While making progress in negotiations with China on a new trade deal, Trump made clear he wants to seal a new agreement with Japan soon as well.

Abe’s visit, which is to include a round of golf on Saturday with Trump, is to set the stage for a trip to Japan that Trump is taking in late May to celebrate Crown Prince Naruhito’s becoming the new emperor of Japan.

Trump announced that he and Abe may take in a sumo wrestling match during the trip to Tokyo.

Naruhito is set to become Japan’s emperor on May 1. He will assume the throne after his father, Emperor Akihito, abdicates on April 30.

Trump said negotiators for the United States and Japan are making progress in his drive to rebalance their trade relationship in a way that reduces chronic US trade deficits with Japan.

“I think it can go fairly quickly. Maybe by the time I’m over there. Maybe we sign it over there. But it’s moving along very nicely and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said about the trade deal.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2019