<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div class=""><a href="http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL3N10B06Y20150731?irpc=932" class="">http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL3N10B06Y20150731?irpc=932</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h2 style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0em 0.4em 0px 0px; font-size: 1em; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" class="">Japan says TPP is not a place to negotiate currencies</h2><h3 style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0em 0.4em 0px 0px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: normal; font-family: sans-serif;" class="">Fri Jul 31, 2015 3:43am EDT</h3><br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px;" class=""><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">By Tetsushi Kajimoto</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">TOKYO, July 31 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso dismissed on Friday a call to set up a forum within the Pacific free trade negotiations to stop countries from manipulating exchange rates.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">Aso's comments follow remarks from Australia's trade minister earlier this stating week that countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade talks are considering a U.S. proposal for finance ministers to discuss currency questions.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">The move falls short of calls by U.S. automakers such as Ford Motor Co and some U.S. lawmakers to include sanctions against currency manipulation in the trade deal.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">"We consider that (TPP) is basically not a place to negotiate currencies, which have been fully dealt with the IMF, G7 and G20," Aso told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">"Even if Japan and the United States go further on this, other countries would not support it. We have not heard anything specific but we don't acknowledge that currency policy is being discussed."</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">A key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also echoed concerns that the currency debate could hamper efforts of trade liberalisation.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">"It's inappropriate to deter benefits of free trade by bringing the exchange market issue to the trade issue, which are essentially unrelated," Koichi Hamada, an emeritus professor of economics at Yale University, was quoted by Jiji newsagency as telling an international conference in Tokyo.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">The yen has lost over a third of its value versus the dollar since late 2012, when Abe swept to power pushing aggressive monetary stimulus to reflate the economy.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">Weaker exchange rates make a country's exports cheaper and give exporters a competitive advantage.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.4em; margin: 0.2em 0.6em 0.8em 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19px;" class="">Economy Minister Akira Amari said currency concerns should not be addressed in the free trade talks as he is attending the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks being held in Hawaii this week. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Eric Meijer)</div></div></body></html>