The U.S. and Japanese governments are arranging an economic dialogue in mid-November in Japan involving Vice President Mike Pence and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, sources said Thursday.
Pence will make a stop in Japan before or after his trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea, the sources said. He is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, possibly to discuss ways to pursue North Korea's denuclearization.
The topic of the Pence-Aso meeting could turn to the negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement, which Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's economic and fiscal policy minister, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month agreed to begin.
Pence and Aso, who doubles as finance minister, previously held an economic dialogue in Washington in October last year to discuss trade, investment and economic cooperation.