Tokyo, 22 December 2021 (TDI): An affable video teleconference meeting has been held between the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan HAYASHI Yoshimasa and United States (US) Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai.
On the behalf of the request from the US side, said virtual meeting was organized in the continuation of the previous meeting with Ambassador Tai’s travel to Japan during the month of November 2021.
Video Teleconference Meeting between Foreign Minister HAYASHI and H.E. Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States T.. https://t.co/MCG4mh6a2P pic.twitter.com/Si3moCEJOl
— MOFA of Japan (@MofaJapan_en) December 22, 2021
During the meeting, the Japanese Foreign Minister and the US Ambassador agreed that discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) would not be impeded by the deferment of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC 12) and that they would move forward with negotiations to achieve pragmatic results.
Moreover, both sides were unanimously decisive to sort out the challenges and hurdles to proceed with prospective discussions on Japan-US economic relationships with the aim of devising the international economic order of the Indo-Pacific region.
In addition, the two officials also inveterated each other that they will remain consistent to communicate on the subject issues, even at the working level.
Japan-US ties
Japan and US are staunch allies with the two collaborating in a wide array of sectors ranging from trade, defense, security, economy, and health sectors. The alliance between the two countries began in the wake of World War II.
Subsequently, the US pledged to defend its ally. Japan has a pacifist approach and the US maintains military facilities in the country.
Militarily, formal ties between the US and Japan military were formed in 1952 by the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco.
It was further cemented in 1960 in Washington when representatives of both countries signed the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the US and Japan.
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