A new round of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade scheme started on Aug. 22 in Brunei and will continue through Aug. 30. The United States, a leading force in the TPP talks, took the initiative in holding a ministerial-level meeting on the first two days of the talks. The U.S. apparently hopes to accelerate the talks so that they will be concluded by the end of this year.
Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman met in Tokyo with economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari and trade and industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi and expressed the hope that participation in the talks by Japan, which joined the talks for the first time at a July 23-25 round in Malaysia, will not have the effect of deterring progress on the talks.
Japan should not make hasty and unnecessary concessions in the talks under the pressure from the U.S. It should conduct negotiations in a tenacious manner.
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