Trans-Pacific Partnership

A U.S.-Japan bilateral trade agreement could incentivize countries to either join the deal or strike separate trade agreements with the U.S., leaving the door open for a more regional deal in the future, according to trade analysts.

Former U.S. trade officials and academic experts doubt that a major new trading initiative for the Asia-Pacific will be announced at the regional trade ministers meeting in Chile next month, while splitting over whether the absence of the United States at the meeting would allow China to take advantage of a void in U.S. trade leadership in the region.

“We have seen that many of the TPP countries are now approaching us and saying ‘we still want to do deals.’”

“It would be quite beneficial for Australia and New Zealand to show some confidence that this could be moved forward.”

Senate Finance Committee Republicans and White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro on Tuesday held initial but frank talks about China, whether to negotiate more trade agreements or focus on existing deals, and other trade issues during the first group meeting between administration officials and the panel's GOP members.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will continue to convey to President Trump his belief in the strategic and economic importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a Japanese foreign affairs ministry official who noted last week that while the two leaders' approach to free trade in the Asia-Pacific may differ, their objectives do not.

President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will discuss trade and the U.S.-Japan bilateral economic relationship during a working lunch at the White House on Friday, a senior administration official told reporters on Feb. 9. That official also said currency manipulation is not a top agenda item for Trump, despite his recent rhetoric on the issue.

An Australian legislative committee tasked with reviewing the Trans-Pacific Partnership has recommended that the parliament not consider ratifying the trade agreement due to the United States' withdrawal, while also noting that the potential exists for a replacement regional deal in the Asia-Pacific without the U.S.

Reps. Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY), co-chairs of the moderate New Democrat Coalition's new task force on trade issues, told Inside U.S. Trade that a trade agenda for the coalition is in the works and stressed the group's support for a multilateral approach to agreements, which has been disdained by the Trump administration.