U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly said on Thursday that the United States will play a necessary role to help resolve a trade row between South Korea and Japan.

South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee told reporters that Ross made the remarks during a meeting between the two at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington.

Yoo said that Ross is fully aware of the negative effects Japanese export curbs may have on U.S. industry as well as global supply chains. 

The trade minister is in the U.S. until Friday, lobbying for South Korea’s position that Japan’s export curbs lodged against it on July 4 are illegal and detrimental.

The trade restrictions are widely presumed to be retaliation for South Korean Supreme Court rulings last year ordering some Japanese firms to provide reparations to wartime forced labor victims. Tokyo maintains a 1965 bilateral treaty to settle colonial era issues settled all compensation matters.