Canada is trying to patch up frayed relations with the Japanese government after holding out on signing a major Pacific Rim trade deal championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Tensions flared between the two countries after Canada effectively blocked progress on a deal to salvage the Trans Pacific Partnership, an 11-nation trade deal anchored by Japan after U.S. President Donald Trump quit the pact. Canada continues to push for revisions that leave the deal, created in part as a check on China's economic clout, in limbo — days before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to China himself.
Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he discussed the issue with Japan's ambassador to Canada in a meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday. "We cleared a lot of the issues and restated we are partners and friends in many things, and have made progress toward trade in the Asia-Pacific region," he said in an interview Wednesday. "And I think this is understood now by both sides."