Press Releases
Meeting and Working Dinner between Foreign Minister HAYASHI and H.E. Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative
November 17, 2021
On November 17, commencing at around 5.30 p.m., Mr. HAYASHI Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a meeting (for approximately 60 minutes) and a working dinner (for approximately 80 minutes) with H.E. Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, who is visiting Japan. The overview of the meeting and working dinner is as follows:
- Minister Hayashi welcomed Ambassador Tai’s first visit to Japan as the U.S. Trade Representative. He stated that he highly values her choice of Japan as the first destination during her visit to the Indo-Pacific region. This is indicative of the U.S.’s commitment to the region. In response, Ambassador Tai congratulated Minister Hayashi on his assumption of office as Foreign Minister, and affirmed that Japan is the most important ally for the United States. Ambassador Tai also stated her hope that this visit would serve as a trigger for further strengthening of bilateral trade and economic relations.
- Minister Hayashi and Ambassador Tai welcomed the launch of the U.S.-Japan Partnership on Trade to cooperate on various challenges shared by Japan and the United States related to international trade.
- Minister Hayashi called for the U.S. to return to TPP and further engage in international order in the Indo-Pacific region. In response, Ambassador Tai stated her willingness to closely work with Japan for an Indo-Pacific economic framework under President Biden’s initiative and explained the U.S. worker-centered trade policy.
- Both sides reaffirmed the importance of Japan-U.S. cooperation to deal with various economic challenges including market-distorting practice and shared the view to cooperate to achieve tangible outcomes at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference(MC12), starting at the end of this month. Additionally, the two sides concurred to collaborate with each other towards APEC 2023 that the U.S. has offered to host. In the area of economic security, both sides affirmed the importance to bolster economic competitiveness and resilience in each country and that Japan and the United States will advance discussion in this area.