Comments by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe following his election win
Abe is set to fly to Washington next week and is likely to meet up with Trump on 25 September. Earlier in the year, Japan has been against bilateral trade negotiations with the US but as Trump started to ramp up the trade rhetoric on China and the EU it has prompted Japan to take a different stance on the matter recently.
Abe will certainly be keen to wrap matters up before things escalate any further from here as Japan continues to run a relatively sizable trade surplus with the US. Any potential trade dispute escalation would be bad for Abe and the BOJ as it would spur bids in the yen and push away further their hopes of reaching the 2% inflation target.
