The first Trilateral meeting of Chinese, Japanese and South Korean Economic and Trade Ministers in over five years was held in Seoul, South Korea on Sunday. With President Trump’s promise to impose across-the-board 25% tariffs on imports on April 2 as a backdrop, the three ministers—Japanese Trade Minister Yoji Muto, and his South Korean and Chinese counterparts, Ahn Duk-geun and Wang Wentao—discussed the potential for increasing trade among themselves with some urgency.
China’s Global Times reported that they “reached a broad consensus” to deepen trade and economic cooperation, with Chinese experts suggesting that China could provide a good market for Japanese cars and South Korean chips being hit with tariffs. Muto told reporters afterwards that “the three countries reaffirmed the importance of working together and agreed to level up cooperation. We will continue to work closely together—Japan, China, and South Korea—and further deepen our trilateral relations and contribute to the development of the global economy.”
South Korea’s Ahn told the meeting that the “uncertainty surrounding world trade has grown in the face of protectionist measures. As protectionist trade policies are not the long-term answer, our countries should adopt a three-pronged role to stabilize global trade and allow the World Trade Organization to perform its function so as to increase predictability in world trade,” South Korea’s Hankyoreh reported.
