Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a group of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives agreed in Tokyo on Monday to further strengthen bilateral ties, including in economic areas, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The visit by the bipartisan delegation from the Congressional Study Group on Japan follows Abe's summit earlier this month with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Billy Long, a Republican representative from Missouri, told reporters after the meeting at the Prime Minister's Office that he had discussed trade with Abe and felt confident the countries will hammer out a bilateral trade deal.
Negotiating a bilateral deal could be politically risky for Abe, who has continued to extol the benefits of the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement even after Trump pulled the United States out of the pact shortly after taking office last month.
In their summit in Washington on Feb. 10, followed by a golfing trip to Trump's vacation estate in Florida, the leaders agreed to pursue a bilateral trade framework in a dialogue led by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
"President Trump and Prime Minister Abe really built a good relationship on the golf course, so I think you'll see a trade deal coming," Long said, adding that he gave Abe a set of golf balls to replace any that might have been lost in Florida.
According to the White House, Trump asked Long in a meeting with lawmakers on Thursday last week to give his regards to Abe, praising the prime minister's golf game and calling him "a fabulous guy."