Hagerty optimistic about Japan trade

Tennessee’s former top economic recruiter in line to be American ambassador to Japan said Thursday that he was optimistic about reaching a deal with Japan that could mean equal or better results than the Asia-Pacific agreement that President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of after taking office.

William Hagerty told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and members of Trump’s Cabinet are engaged in an “economic dialogue” aimed at a bilateral trade pact with Japan. And making strides on a personal level with Japanese leaders.

Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Trump’s Florida resort in February, and Pence communicates regularly with Japan’s vice prime minister, he said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have traveled to Japan in the early months of the Trump administration. The U.S. has tried to reassure Japan that Washington’s rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal did not signal a U.S. withdrawal from trade and economic development in the region.

“So at a personal level, at a relationship level, I see advancement taking place that encourages me that we will be able to still achieve a good deal of what we’d hoped to accomplish in the TPP, what might have been hoped before,” Hagerty said using the acronym for the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.