Trade minister Hiroshige Seko will not accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his trip to Washington this week, as his U.S. counterpart in the new Trump administration will not likely be confirmed by Congress by Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.
Tokyo has been trying to arrange a meeting between Seko and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who President Donald Trump picked as his nominee for secretary of commerce.
Suga on Tuesday had said Seko would accompany Abe on his Washington trip if the Diet endorsed it.
But on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told the Lower House Steering Committee that Seko would not go.
Abe, together with Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, plans to leave for the U.S. on Thursday, with the intention of meeting up with Trump on Friday in Washington.
The prime minister is then expected to travel to Florida where he will play a round of golf with the new U.S. president.