Trans-Pacific Partnership

Prime Minister Bill English wants to avoid a lengthy renegotiation.

Robert Lighthizer, slated to be sworn in as U.S. Trade Representative on Monday afternoon, will have a busy first week in office, meeting with congressional committees of jurisdiction to discuss the administration’s negotiating objectives for NAFTA and traveling to the two-day APEC trade ministers meeting in Vietnam, sources told Inside U.S. Trade.

Trade Minister Todd McClay: “We have agreed to continue to evaluate options under TPP that would deliver benefits for our citizens and the region.”

Members of Japan’s National Diet, speaking in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, stressed that Tokyo will not be able to make the same concessions it did in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks if the U.S. seeks a bilateral agreement with Japan instead -- and said detailed discussions on trade can’t happen until relevant U.S. agencies are adequately staffed.

Senior trade officials from the 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries are gathering for meetings in Toronto this week to discuss “potential next steps” for the agreement ahead of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers’ summit in Vietnam later this month.

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso thinks a Pacific deal “could be reached quickly.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, standing alongside Vice President Mike Pence, said Saturday that the U.S. had the right to end its participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and that “each nation is committed to protecting its economic interests first and foremost,” while Pence reiterated the U.S. “America-first” policy and the administration’s preference for bilateral trade deals.

The decision is expected to set an EU-wide precedent for whether other trade agreements, including TTIP, will need member state approval.

“President Trump talks about America first, but in our case, America first means that we're selling wheat and cattle and corn around the globe.”