Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence remained at odds Monday over U.S. calls to start bilateral free trade talks but made progress on automobile and farm trade between the world's biggest and third-largest economies.
During the second round of the high-level economic dialogue in Washington, Aso and Pence agreed that Japan will "streamline noise and emissions testing procedures for U.S. automobile exports," the two governments said in a joint news release.
They also welcomed the recent lifting of restrictions by the United States on Japanese persimmons and by Japan on U.S. potatoes from Idaho, the document said.