Officials from Japan are urging Canada to join the fight against U.S. trade protectionism. Japan is still determined to save the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to take the United States out of the agreement. Japan hopes Trump can still be persuaded to back off from his opposition to TPP before his January inauguration, according to the Canadian Press news agency. TPP would deepen economic ties between Canada and Japan. The two nations have sought increased trade with each other for years, setting aside a bilateral trade agreement in 2014 as TPP talks progressed. Japan is not ready to restart the bilateral talks in fear of sending the wrong signal to President-elect Trump. TPP’s rules dictate that the deal cannot go ahead unless it has the backing of countries making up 85 percent of the pact’s GDP –that effectively gives the U.S. and Japan the power to kill the trade deal.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.