Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday showed his determination to defend rules-based free and multilateral trade systems and take a leadership role to expand the Asia-Pacific trade group at a time of deepening tensions and divisions over U.S. tariffs and trade wars.

"High tariffs will not bring economic prosperity," Ishiba told a global forum in Tokyo. "A prosperity built on sacrifices by someone or another country will not make a strong economy."