Seoul: China, South Korea and Japan agreed to strengthen free trade on Sunday in the face of new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The agreement was held at a meeting of senior trade officials (the first at that level within five years) after tariffs began days before, including cars, trucks and auto parts.

South Korea and Japan are major auto exporters, while China has also been hit hard by U.S. tariffs.

South Korean industry minister Ahn Duk-Geun, his Japanese peers Yoji Muto and China’s Wang Wenao attended the meeting.

The three countries called for negotiations to speed up a comprehensive trilateral free trade agreement and agreed to create a “predictable trade and investment environment”, a statement said.

South Korea’s AHN said the three countries must “commonly respond” to common global challenges.

“The economic and trade environment today is characterized by an increase in the splitting of the global economy,” he said.

“The international environment around us is changing and uncertainty is increasing,” Japanese trade official Yasuji Komiyama said in a press conference.

Chinese official Wang said, “Unilateral and protectionism are spreading” and the three countries must assume the responsibility of protecting the multilateral trading system.

He said these three countries account for 20% of the global population, 24% of the global economy and 19% of global commodity trade.

Trump has pledged to tailor-made tariffs for every trading partner starting April 2 to remedy what he believes is unfair.

But he also told reporters last week that there will be “flexibility” and that the market seemed to ease at the end of last week.