The United States may insist on a quick trade deal with Japan to gain the same access to Japanese agricultural markets as some other Japanese trading partners, US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue said on Tuesday April 30.

United States President Donald Trump said last week after head-to-head talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he hopes to have a deal with Japan by the time he visits Tokyo in May.

“We want to quickly resolve our agricultural request here ... maybe temporarily, which can then be implemented over a longer period,” Purdue told reporters.

Purdue said US farmers should get the same access to Japanese markets as countries that have signed a trade agreement in the Pacific. At one time, Trump moved away from this deal at the beginning of his presidency, arguing that it was a bad deal for the US economy and workers.

Other countries that remained in Pacific trade, such as Canada, have greater access to the lucrative Japanese market.

During talks last week, Trump called Japanese tariffs on US agricultural products an irritant.