WASHINGTON, April 25, 2014 – President Barack Obama’s
two-day trip to Japan ended yesterday without a breakthrough on the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to statements from the White House. According
to a senior administration official, however, negotiators made progress in
agriculture issues.
Negotiators took talks on the so-called five sacred products
– dairy, wheat, beef
and pork, sugar and rice
– “to different levels,” the official said. “[I]n a number of the products we
were able to identify what the path is going to be towards the ultimate
resolution.”
The official said agriculture has become one of the main
focuses of bilateral U.S.-Japan trade talks, which observers say must be
completed before a larger, 12-nation TPP deal. Japan and U.S. are the largest
economies involved in TPP negotiations.
“TPP held out the promise of opening that (agricultural) market
and these talks today and yesterday were a critical part of doing that,” the
official said.
TPP countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile,
Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and
Vietnam – account for nearly 40 percent of global GDP, or $28 trillion.
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