Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba raises his hand before responding to a question during an Upper House Budget Committee session on April 21. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba indicated Japan was prepared to take deregulatory measures in response to demands from U.S. President Donald Trump but insisted that national security issues be treated separately from trade.

Asked about Trump’s remark that tariff negotiations with Japan are a top priority, Ishiba told an Upper House Budget Committee session on April 21 that he believes Washington expects such talks will become a “model” for other countries.

“In addition to its security alliance, Japan has the closest ties with the United States in economy,” he said. “The two countries are in a position to be able to build a win-win relationship.”

Ishiba said Japan will engage in negotiations by thoroughly understanding Trump’s thinking.

“We will create jobs in the United States and demonstrate what Japan and the United States can do for the world,” he said.

Opposition lawmakers said Ishiba appears to be simply conforming with Trump’s policy.

Ishiba acknowledged that a country that is easy to negotiate with can be a country that is easy to deal with, but he emphasized that Japan cannot support its national interests if it makes concessions on everything.

On that note, Ishiba said national security issues must not be linked with tariff talks.

Trump has repeatedly said Tokyo should pay more for U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

“We will not increase our burden submissively,” Ishiba said.

Trump has also complained that nontariff trade barriers in Japan have resulted in a minuscule number of U.S. vehicles sold in the country, a claim he repeated in his meeting with Ryosei Akazawa, minister in charge of economic revitalization, in Washington on April 16.

The United States has said such nontariff barriers include Japan’s strict safety standards.

Ishiba told the April 21 committee session that Japan will consider relaxing domestic automobile regulations.

“We must properly discuss where we can do something without compromising safety and come up with answers,” he said.

A senior official in the prime minister’s office said: “There are things we can do. We will examine options.”

The United States has also called on Japan to expand agricultural imports.

In the April 16 talks in Washington, U.S. officials cited meat, rice and potatoes among other items, according to Japanese government sources.

Isamu Ueda of junior coalition partner Komeito told the April 21 committee session that Japan must not accept more American farm products because it already imports far more agricultural produce from the United States than it exports.

Ishiba also expressed a cautious stance.

“We must protect Japan’s agriculture industry as well as the safety of its consumers,” he said.

But many government and ruling coalition officials said Japan may have no other choice but to increase agricultural imports from the United States.

One candidate is soybeans. U.S. soybean exports to China are expected to plummet amid the escalating trade war between the two countries.

“The United States will likely demand Japan make up for the portion it will be unable to export to China,” a senior administration official said.

At a news conference on April 21, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said senior officials from the transport and agricultural ministries are joining a government secretariat for tariff talks with the United States.

(This article was compiled from reports by Mika Kuniyoshi, Takuro Chiba and Kohei Morioka.)

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