The initial trade talks between U.S. and Japanese negotiators are incomplete. There is a strong desire to conclude a bilateral U.S.-Japan trade agreement, but there are many specific aspects and technical issues that will need to be ironed out before an agreement can be reached. Moreover, both sides must develop a consensus within their respective governments.
U.S. President Donald Trump appears to favor a bilateral approach, which will impact previously signed multilateral agreements, and his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership makes any bilateral trade deal politically difficult for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In this context, it is necessary to understand that Trump negotiates from an unconventional multilateral approach.
The Trump administration's trade approach is essentially a two-step process. First, U.S. negotiators seek unilateral Japanese tariff reductions on American agricultural imports. U.S. farmers, including barley farmers in the upper Midwest, have lost market share to Canada and Australia, both members of the TPP and thus beneficiaries of reduced Japanese tariffs. Trump wants Japan to grant the United States the same tariff reductions that TPP members enjoy. If Japan agrees, this may violate WTO rules and will certainly precipitate objections from other TPP members over preferential treatment to a non-TPP country. This phase of the negotiations also covers an overall commitment from Japan to reduce its trade surplus with the U.S.