Japanese Prime Minister and Singaporean Prime Minister held a telephone talk to discuss the Trump tariff issue.
On the afternoon of April 14th in Japan time, Japanese Prime Minister Shibayama and Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong held a telephone talk. In the talk, both sides extensively discussed economic issues with the background of the impact of America's tariff measures and China's retaliatory countermeasures on the world economy and the free trade system.
The two leaders unanimously expressed that they would closely cooperate and jointly promote the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" strategy.
Singapore, like Japan, is a signatory to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Even after the United States withdrew from the negotiations, Singapore still signed relevant agreements based on this basis.
Senior officials of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Singaporean side hopes that Japan can play the same leadership role as when the United States withdrew from the TPP under the current circumstances, and expressed the willingness to further strengthen cooperation.
Singapore is the first country in Asia to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan. As early as 2002, the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was signed.
In terms of the economy, Japan and Singapore are indispensable trading partners, and Singapore is the largest investor in Japan in Asia.
Source: rfi
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829456120504320/
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