US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has made ‘big progress’ in trade talks with Japan, following his meeting with a Japanese economic delegation in Washington, in a surprise move aimed at accelerating negotiations on tariffs between the two countries.’A great honor to have just met with the Japanese delegation on trade’, Trump said on social media, noting that there had been significant progress, without providing details on the talks. The Japanese delegation was headed by Minister of Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa.For his part, Akazawa stated, following his meeting with US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that the US administration has expressed its desire to conclude an agreement within the 90-day period, adding that Tokyo shares this goal, but the path of the negotiations remains unclear.The talks were originally scheduled to focus on trade and investment issues, but President Trump expanded them to include Japan's contribution to funding the presence of US troops in the country, amid continued US tariffs of up to 25 percent on Japan's auto sector, along with a 10 percent general tariff.
