US, Japan keen to strike a quick agreement on TPP
TOKYO — In what may be an injection of political capital into the stalled talks on the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have agreed this week that the two countries should work on concluding the agreement at an early date.
Mr Lew (left) and Mr Aso have expressed a desire to finalise negotiations around the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Photo: Reuters
TOKYO — In what may be an injection of political capital into the stalled talks on the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have agreed this week that the two countries should work on concluding the agreement at an early date.
Mr Aso told reporters that he discussed with Mr Lew the need to quickly strike a deal on the US-led TPP pact when the two met on the fringes of a meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of 20 economies in Turkey on Friday.
The US Treasury Department said Mr Lew told Mr Aso that he is “hopeful that TPP negotiations would conclude as soon as possible”.
In late July, the United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries involved in the TPP held a four-day ministerial meeting in Hawaii regarding the free trade pact, but fell short of securing a broad agreement due to gaps over intellectual property, and the liberalisation of dairy and automobile tariffs.
The tariff-cutting TPP, if realised, would stretch from Chile and Canada to Japan and Singapore, and bind together about 40 per cent of the global output in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.
For the TPP to succeed, Japan and the US, the two largest economies,accounting for about 80 per cent of gross domestic product in the framework, must resolve their differences over the liberalisation of agricultural goods and automotive parts.
However, they still have the difficult task of finalising a bilateral accord on opening up Japan’s rice market and abolishing US tariffs on vehicle parts.
On Friday, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed cautioned that the trade pact would not be concluded soon as there remained many issues between the negotiating parties. However, Mr Mustapa expressed optimism that a deal could still be reached.
Since the last round of talks in Hawaii, the TPP member nations have yet to even decide when to reconvene — fuelling concerns that the TPP talks have been shelved at least for the time being, as US political attention shifts to the run-up to next year’s presidential election.
Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari also warned last week that the negotiations might be halted if member nations were unable to strike a broad deal before the Canadian general elections next month.
US President Barack Obama wants the ambitious 12-nation TPP to be a central part of his administration’s foreign policy pivot to Asia, and help serve as a counterweight to the economic might of China.
In a speech he made during a visit to Singapore early last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the importance of the TPP to regional growth and prosperity.
“No country can expect its economy to grow simply by buying and selling to its own people,” Mr Kerry said. AGENCIES