Japan's top trade negotiator said Friday he has been assured the United States will not ask Japan to cap its automobile exports as part of a bilateral trade deal.

Toshimitsu Motegi, minister for economic and fiscal policy, said that he had spoken with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer following a report by Bloomberg News that U.S. President Donald Trump is set to demand that Japan and the European Union "limit or restrict" their auto imports into the United States.

"Japan has maintained that it is against measures that distort fair and open trade practices," Motegi told a news conference.