Before Japan can proceed with trade talks with Washington, authorities must first correct several misunderstandings held by U.S. President Donald Trump, former foreign minister and previous digital transformation minister Taro Kono said Wednesday.
"President Trump could flip according to how the market reacts to it and what he’s quoting, the facts, numbers, are quite wrong. So we need to first correct his misunderstanding to put our proposal on the table,” Kono said in an interview.
He recalled how Trump expressed similar misunderstandings about the U.S.-Japan security alliance and Japan’s auto industry when he visited Washington with then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during Trump’s first term in office. Serving as Japan’s foreign minister at the time, Kono said the incorrect assumptions were corrected, but now need to be rectified again.
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