Japan’s Akazawa Says Still Working on Date for Next Trade Talks

Japan and the US are still working on setting the timing for the next round of cabinet-level trade talks, Japan’s point person for the negotiations said, as the deadline for a deal to avert another hike in tariffs nears.

“We’re still in the process of setting a date for the next ministerial meeting,” Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief trade negotiator, said Tuesday at a post-cabinet meeting press conference, as he again played down the importance of the July 9 date for tariffs to rise. “We’re not going to put a deadline on the discussions.”