Japan announces progress in negotiations with the United States on investments

Japan and the United States have agreed to accelerate the selection of investment projects for the first round as part of Tokyo's $550 billion package. This was reported on February 12 by the Japanese newspaper Mainichi following a meeting between U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Latnik and his Japanese counterpart Ray Akazawa.

"Japan and the United States on Thursday agreed to accelerate the selection of the first round of investment projects within the framework of a package worth $ 550 billion, which Tokyo committed to implement last year after several months of negotiations on tariffs, ahead of the summit of the leaders of the two countries, which will be held in about a month," the publication says.

The newspaper writes that Akazawa's meeting with the Soldier was the final one in the settlement of the first batch of projects, after which they will be sent to US President Donald Trump for approval. It is noted that after the meeting, the ministers did not provide details of the negotiations. According to the Japanese side, it has not yet been possible to reach a consensus on certain parts of the agreement.

"In short, as far as we know, we are not interested in high—risk but highly profitable investments, given that they also involve taxpayers' money," the newspaper quoted Akazawa as saying.

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