[CTC] USTR considering TPP ministerial in NY this month

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Washington Trade Daily
Volume 24, Numbers 179 and 180 Tuesday and Wednesday, September 8 and 9, 2015
Trade Reports International Group

Around the Globe
The United States has sounded out some of the other countries involved in Pacific Rim
free trade negotiations about holding the next ministerial gathering in late September on the margins of a
session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, negotiation sources said Tuesday
according to Kyodo news service (WTD, 9/8/15). Separately, Japan and the United States will resume
bilateral talks on auto trade issues under the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade initiative in
Washington from Wednesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The moves follow a ministerial meeting of all 12 TPP countries in Hawaii in late July at which
they failed to secure a broad agreement. During the negotiations in Washington through Friday, Japan
is also expected to hold working-level talks with Canada and Mexico as well. There could also be
multilateral sessions among the four countries, according to a Foreign Ministry official.

Akira Amari, Japan’s minister in charge of TPP negotiations, has expressed hope that the next
ministerial meeting will be held by the end of September, saying the TPP talks may be halted if a deal
cannot be reached before a general election in Canada slated for October. Despite the United States and
Japan seeking a fresh ministerial session this month, some trade observers say such a meeting is unlikely
to occur before a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November in the
Philippines, where TPP trade chiefs will also gather.

Trade ministers from the 12 TPP countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan,
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam — last met on the
Hawaiian island of Maui for four days through July 31, but they failed to reach an agreement due to
differences over auto trade, intellectual property and the liberalization of dairy products.
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