Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe completed a two-day visit to the United States last weekend, holding talks with US President Donald Trump on how to deepen their countries’ economic relationship under the new leadership in Washington. Trade was widely expected to be high on the agenda during the 10-11 February meetings, after Trump confirmed in January that he would be withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement and having duly instructed the Office of the US Trade Representative to take the necessary steps. (See Bridges Weekly, 26 January 2017 ) Japan is one of the 11 other signatories to the TPP and was the last economy to join those negotiations, becoming a participant in the Pacific Rim trade accord after holding preliminary bilateral talks with the United States. (See Bridges Weekly, 18 April 2013 ) The Japanese leader had already met with Trump in November, shortly after the latter was elected but before he was inaugurated. (See Bridges Weekly, 17 November 2016 ) Cross-sectoral dialogue, TPP Speaking to reporters, Trump and Abe said that their meeting was just the beginning of a broader effort to address bilateral trade issues, with the two officials announcing that they would be...