United States (US) and Japanese negotiators will begin a second round of trade talks in Washington on Thursday as they aim to secure a speedy deal focused on agriculture and vehicles.

Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will hold talks with the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, while Finance Minister Taro Aso will meet separately with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for discussions expected to touch on currencies. On Friday, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to meet President Donald Trump in Washington.

The US is pushing to reduce its deficit with Japan and gain better access to the Asian nation’s agriculture market. For its part, Japan is looking for a concrete promise that it wont be hit by possible US tariffs on automobiles imports, similar to duties imposed by the Trump administration last year on steel and aluminium on national security grounds.

From the next session onwards we will speed up discussions toward an early agreement, and will discuss digital trade at an appropriate time, Motegi said last week during the first round of negotiations.

US farmers are also agitating for a quick resolution. Almost 90 agricultural organizations said in a letter to Lighthizer this week that US agricultural products are losing ground after Japan cut tariffs for a second time on products from the European Union (EU) and some Asia-Pacific nations.

After Trump pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership soon after his inauguration, the 11 other members including Japan went ahead without the US to forge a successor deal called the CPTPP. US farmers say they have been left at a disadvantage by that pact, and another that Abe struck in 2018 with the EU.

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