Trans-Pacific Partnership

Tokyo eyes Australia, New Zealand as key partners in a smaller agreement.

Japan is not ready to jump into bilateral negotiations on a trade deal with the United States because it remains unclear what the U.S. would want from such a deal and how it would impact trade relationships with the rest of the region, Japan’s ambassador to the United States Kenichiro Sasae said Tuesday.

Signs of life for TTIP; post-TPP future still unclear.

“The business of Asia is business. We can’t cede to China the setting of the rules.”

Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso this week offered “no guarantee” the United States will strike a better deal with Tokyo if it chooses to pursue a bilateral trade agreement, stressing that U.S. gains with Japan in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership depended on other countries “balancing out the gains and losses.”

The U.S.-Japan Economic Dialogue may produce work that eventually leads to the negotiation of a bilateral free trade deal between the two countries, Vice President Mike Pence said in Tokyo today alongside Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso following the first meeting of the economic dialogue.

“These agreements should be pursued on a priority basis.”

Industry officials, trade analysts and a key Obama administration digital trade negotiator on Thursday warned that the U.S. must quickly work with trading partners to secure digital trade rules in trade agreements that are at least as ambitious as those agreed to in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Heraldo Muñoz writes in the New York Times that last month's Viña del Mar meeting “has set us on our way.”