SEOUL: China, South Korea and Japan agreed on Sunday ( Mar 30 ) to strengthen free trade, according to a joint statement from their top officials meeting in Seoul.
The conference– the first at that stage in five years– comes after US President Donald Trump has thrown international business into turmoil with a raft of punishing tariffs on a huge range of imports, including cars, trucks, and auto parts.
South Korea and Japan are big automobile manufacturers, while China has also been hit hard by fresh US taxes.
The conference was attended by South Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun, his Chinese rival Yoji Muto, and China’s Wang Wentao.
The three states called for their negotiations for a complete joint free-trade contract to be sped away, and agreed to create” a repetitive trade and investment surroundings”, a statement said.
South Korea Ahn’s said the three countries had answer” cooperatively” to shared global issues.
” Today’s economic and trade culture is marked by increasing separation of the world economy”, he said.
Trump has promised taxes tailored to each trading companion from April 2 to redress procedures he deems cruel.
But he also told investigators last month that there would be “flexibility”, and industry appeared to respond with some relief at the end of last week.