Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, expressed hope Monday that crude oil prices will stabilize soon.
In a lecture held during the annual Japan-U.S. Business Conference, he said that recent speculative moves are worrisome, given the magnitude of their influence on the global economy.
Crude oil prices have been hovering below $50 per barrel since hitting an all-time high of more than $55 late last month.
Okuda, also chairman of Toyota Motor Corp., urged the government to make concessions in such areas as agriculture to conclude free-trade agreements in Asia.
Japan has an FTA with Singapore and signed one with Mexico last month. Tokyo is currently negotiating FTAs with Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.
Henry McKinnell, head of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., told the same conference the U.S. government should do its utmost to curb a spike in oil prices because higher energy prices eat into households' disposal income and affect some industries.
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