U.S. Govt Welcomes Abe's TPP Announcement

Washington, March 15 (Jiji Press)--The U.S government issued a statement Friday welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement that Japan intends to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations for free trade. "The United States welcomes Prime Minister Abe's important announcement formally expressing Japan's interest" in joining the talks, Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said in the statement. Since early last year, the two nations have held prior TPP consultations on trade issues in the automobile and insurance sectors, among others. "While we continue to make progress in these consultations, important work remains to be done," Marantis said. "We look forward to continuing these consultations with Japan as the 11 TPP countries consider Japan's candidacy for this vital initiative in the Asia-Pacific region." In the preliminary talks, Japan agreed to raise the number of foreign vehicles that can be imported through simplified procedures. Tokyo also showed its stance of not complaining about setting a grace period for U.S. auto tariff elimination. The U.S. government is expected to notify Congress of its intention to accept Japan's participation in the TPP talks by the end of March at the earliest, in order to begin a 90-day process to obtain congressional approval. Echoing the government's statement, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "As the world's third-largest economy and a vital trade partner of the United States, Japan's participation on the right terms would be a game-changer for the (TPP) negotiations." U.S. lawmakers from beef-producing states also welcomed Abe's announcement, in a stark contrast to opposition from those with strong bonds with the auto industry. Max Baucus (D-Montana), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a key member of the same committee, praised Japan's decision to take part in the TPP talks in their statements Friday. They issued the statements after Sandy Levin (D-Michigan), ranking member of the House of Representatives, and other congressmen and senators sent President Barack Obama a letter Thursday saying Japan's participation in the TPP framework would "make matters worse" for U.S. automakers and workers "who have been forced to compete for decades on a fundamentally unlevel playing field" with Japanese rivals. END