Following their summit in Seoul, China, South Korea, and Japan issued a unified statement on Sunday pledging to fortify free trade.
Following a flurry of punitive tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on a wide variety of imports, including automobiles, trucks, and auto parts, the gathering is the first of its kind in five years.
Major vehicle exports include South Korea and Japan, and China has also been severely impacted by recent US tariffs.
China’s Wang Wentao, Japan’s Yoji Muto, and South Korea’s Ahn Duk-geun attended the meeting as industry ministers.
The three countries called for their negotiations for a comprehensive trilateral free-trade agreement to be speeded up, and agreed to create “a predictable trade and investment environment”, a statement said.
South Korea Ahn said the three countries must respond “jointly” to shared global challenges.
“Today’s economic and trade environment is marked by increasing fragmentation of the global economy,” he said.
Trump has promised tariffs tailored to each trading partner from April 2 to remedy practices he deems unfair.
But he also told reporters last week that there would be “flexibility”, and markets appeared to react with some relief at the end of last week.
