US-Japan trade talks: Top officials Motegi and Lighthizer may meet next week

Toshimitsu Motegi, who serves as Japan's economy minister said he may travel to Washington to meet US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer next week. 

The announcement came after Lighthizer, a trade hawk, pointed his criticism to Japan, saying the US has a very large trade deficit with the Land of the Rising Sun. Talks with the European Union are set to start soon as talks with China are nearing the end. 

Japan and the US were the largest signatories of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an accord the US signed but retreated from early in 2017.