Japan and the United States might arrange for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit Washington in January for talks with President Barack Obama on trade and security issues, a U.S. government source said Saturday.
The governments are discussing the matter on the assumption that the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact will be concluded by the end of the year, the source said.
The TPP is being stalled partly because Tokyo and Washington are still wrestling over major trade issues, including U.S. access to Japan's protected automobile market and Japan's desire to keep tariffs in place on five "sacred" agricultural products.