The Japan Times - Japón

The economic impact of the growing coronavirus outbreak is shifting from service driven industries like hotels and restaurants to the manufacturing sector on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to a synchronized shutdown of heavy industry that historians and industry experts say is unlike any seen since the 1940s.

The spreading coronavirus has health officials from the U.S. to Europe searching for answers. To find them, they could look to the experience of Asia, which has been battling the deadly pathogen since January — with some success.

Auto tariffs are expected to come up as a top agenda item in Japan-U.K. trade talks that are expected to start as early as this spring after the latter’s exit from the European Union.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday called for better relations with the North so leader Kim Jong Un can visit Seoul, despite Pyongyang’s abandonment of its nuclear and missile test moratoriums. Moon’s appeal came after Kim threatened a demonstration of a “new strategic weapon” at a four-day ruling party meeting last week, where he never mentioned South Korea.

With the Upper House passing the U.S.-Japan trade agreement Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe achieved one of the most important milestones in the current Diet extraordinary session, and has paved a path for a deal to be ratified on Jan. 1.

Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies agreed Saturday that it is “urgent” to reform the World Trade Organization, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, amid an escalating U.S.-China tit-for-tat tariff trade war.

Shares around the world fell Monday as hopes for a breakthrough in the trade war between the United States and China diminished after President Donald Trump said Washington had not agreed to gradually roll back tariffs as negotiations progress.

India’s exit from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) regional trade talks appeared to leave China and Japan at odds over whether to press ahead with the remaining members — or to try to find a workaround that includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Japan and South Korea have begun exploring ways to resolve their long-running fight over compensation for wartime labor, with one option being the creation of a fund to provide money for economic cooperation, according to sources familiar with the bilateral relationship.