Japan's Aso pushes back against U.S. pressure for bilateral trade deal
By Leika Kihara
ricky l
Japan has less room to compromise with the United States under a bilateral trade deal than under a multilateral agreement like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), its deputy prime minister said, taking a swipe at U.S. attempts to directly pressure Tokyo into opening up heavily-protected markets like agriculture.
Taro Aso, who heads Japan for a newly-created bilateral economic dialogue with the United States, said that under TPP, Japan was able to accede to more U.S. demands as it could make up for the losses through agreements with other countries.
"In a bilateral deal, you can't do that. You can't get back what you lose from a compromise with the United States," Aso said in a seminar at Columbia University on Wednesday.
Aso's comments underscore Japan's hopes of avoiding a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the 12-nation TPP backed by his predecessor Barack Obama and Japanese premier Shinzo Abe.
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Fully support Japan's position on TPP and bilateral trade.
Hopefully with more trading partners holding the same position with US, Trump one day will relent and come to the conclusion that TPP multi-lateral trade deal is a better deal than bilateral trade deal.
Taro Aso, who heads Japan for a newly-created bilateral economic dialogue with the United States, said that under TPP, Japan was able to accede to more U.S. demands as it could make up for the losses through agreements with other countries.
"In a bilateral deal, you can't do that. You can't get back what you lose from a compromise with the United States," Aso said in a seminar at Columbia University on Wednesday.
Aso's comments underscore Japan's hopes of avoiding a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the 12-nation TPP backed by his predecessor Barack Obama and Japanese premier Shinzo Abe.
----
Fully support Japan's position on TPP and bilateral trade.
Hopefully with more trading partners holding the same position with US, Trump one day will relent and come to the conclusion that TPP multi-lateral trade deal is a better deal than bilateral trade deal.
