US Trade Chief Says TPP More Ambitious Than JP-AUS Deal

The U.S. trade chief said Tuesday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative aims at a higher level of trade liberalization than the accord reached by Japan and Australia, playing down the impact of the bilateral agreement on the broader TPP negotiations.

“I don’t think it (the Japan-Australia free trade agreement) has much effect one way or the other” on the 12-country TPP talks, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who is slated to meet with his Japanese counterpart Akira Amari in Tokyo on Wednesday to discuss outstanding TPP issues.

Referring to the reduction of Japanese tariffs on Australian beef agreed by the two countries, Froman said he is “looking for a level of an ambition in TPP that is significantly higher than that.”

Froman was speaking to reporters as he arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon.

Tokyo and Canberra, both involved in the U.S.-led TPP talks, reached a broad agreement Monday on a bilateral free trade accord after seven years of negotiations, which some trade observers say could spur the TPP talks that have become bogged down amid bickering between Tokyo and Washington over Japanese tariffs on beef and pork, rice, wheat, sugar and dairy products.

Japan has decided to slash its tariff on Australian frozen beef, mainly used for processed food for restaurants, to 19.5 percent in 18 years and that on chilled beef, sold in supermarkets, to 23.5 percent in 15 years, both from the current 38.5 percent, giving Australia preferential treatment in the Japanese market compared with the United States.

via Mainichi

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.