US President Donald Trump has said he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are working together to improve trading relations.
Mr Trump was speaking after holding talks with Mr Abe at the White House in Washington.
At a joint news conference, Mr Trump said that Mr Abe told him Japan was buying "billions and billions of dollars of additional products of all kinds - military jets, airliners from Boeing, lots of farm products."
"We're working hard to reduce our trade imbalance which is very substantial, remove barriers to US exports and to achieve a fair and mutually beneficial economic partnership," Mr Trump said.
Japan, a key US ally, is among a number of countries hit by metal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
It has also threatened levies on imports of Japanese cars.
Mr Trump has made clear he prefers a bilateral deal to reduce the US trade deficit with Japan, while Mr Abe's government says multilateral agreements would be best.
"The United States seeks a bilateral deal with Japan that is based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity," Mr Trump said today.
He said his administration encouraged Japanese investment in new plants in the United States.
"The prime minister told me that will happen," he said. "We want new auto plants going into Michigan and Pennsylvania and Ohio."
Mr Abe said he had a detailed and candid exchange of views with Mr Trump, and the discussions focused on North Korea.
Ahead of the summit with North Korea in Singapore next Tuesday, Mr Trump said it was possible he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could sign an agreement to end the Korean War and that he would someday like to normalise relations with Pyongyang.
"Well it could be, we could sign an agreement, as you know that would be a first step ... but yes ... we're looking at it, we're talking about it with a lot of other people ... that's probably the easy part, the hard part remains after that," Mr Trump said in answer to a question at the news conference.
