<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">POLITICO<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class="">Froman non-committal on timing for TPP conclusion</span><o:p class=""></o:p></b></p><div class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">6/25/15 12:30 PM EDT<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today wouldn't say whether he expects to be able to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership through Congress by the end of the year, but said he'd been staying in "constant touch" with the other TPP countries.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"It'll be summer someplace," he joked when asked if the deal would be concluded in the summer or the fall. He said there would be more meetings among the countries in the coming days, and then "when we think we're ready to close, we'll convene the chief negotiators and ministers" to close out the most politically sensitive issues.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">On Japan, he said the next bilateral meeting for the parallel talks on agriculture, autos and non-tariff measures had not yet been scheduled, though the two sides remain in communication. He did not answer whether he expected the talks to be concluded quickly, now that the president has secured renewal of trade promotion authority.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">He also said the U.S. is waiting for Canada "to come to the table with a meaningful offer" on dairy and poultry market access. Froman spoke as part of a competitiveness event hosted by Foreign Policy magazine.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><em class="">— Victoria Guida</em><o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><em class=""><br class=""></em></div><div class=""></div></div></body></html>