Press Releases

On May 2 (in the morning EDT and on the same day in the evening JST), President Obama announced the designation of Mr. Michael Froman, Deputy Assistant to the President, as the next U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), succeeding Mr. Kirk who has already resigned. Following the announcement, Foreign Minister Kishida issued the following message to the USTR designate Froman.

1. USTR designate Froman has already played an important role in promoting international economic relations during his time as Deputy Assistant to the President; when he is approved by the Senate as the next USTR, he will take on the new and heavy responsibility of managing the overall U.S. foreign trade relations.
2. Japan-U.S. relations are the cornerstone of stability and prosperity not just for those two countries, but for the Asia-Pacific region and the entire world. From this perspective, in order to further strengthen Japan-U.S. economic relations, which is one of the important pillars of Japan-U.S. relationship, I look forward to working together with USTR designate Froman.