Japan, Australia, New Zealand advise against renegotiation to advance TPP11

摘要

HANOI - Trade officials from Japan, Australia and New Zealand, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministers meeting here, told Inside U.S. Trade they were not in favor of reopening provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a way to ensure its entry into force without the United States - citing a potential unraveling of the deal and the maintenance of the high standards agreed to when the U.S. was still involved. While Australia's Trade Minister Steven Ciobo was noncommittal when asked whether the U.S. might eventually join the agreement, Japanese State Minister of Foreign Affairs Kentaro Sonoura said on May 22 that "there might be the United States coming back in the future, and in any case we 11 TPP countries are discussing what kind of agreement, what kind of framework we should make going forward."