Asian envoys urge Trump to rethink on TPP trade deal

Japan, EU in free trade talks

WASHINGTON, Dec 14, (Agencies): US-allied Asian ambassadors on Tuesday urged President-elect Donald Trump to reconsider his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and keep the US engaged in Asia.

Ambassadors from Australia, South Korean and Singapore made the appeal at a Washington think tank.

The Obama administration championed the trade pact which was signed by 12 nations in February but has run into a wall of congressional and public opposition.

Trump has vowed to withdraw from TPP on his first day in office, calling it a “disaster” for American jobs. Australian Ambassador Joe Hockey said, “America has to engage with Asia if it is going to be great,” because that’s where most global economic growth is happening.

“The fact that the US was very involved in leadership of it (TPP) then could not deliver and has chosen now not to deliver is hugely damaging to the United States’ reputation in Asia,” Hockey said.

He said that in the meantime, Asian nations are focusing on an alternative trade pact supported by China, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

South Korean Ambassador Ahn Ho-young acknowledged that antitrade and globalization sentiment had surged during the US election but said that in the long-term, all nations benefit from trade liberalization.

He said South Korea wants to join TPP if it progresses.

The three envoys steered clear of the controversy over Trump’s recent pronouncements on China and Taiwan.

Singaporean Ambassador Ashok Mirpuri said that US global leadership is needed in the AsiaPacific, but Southeast Asian nations also want calm between the US and China.

Meanwhile, Japan and the European Union are holding lastditch talks this week to try reach a broad free trade agreement by the end of the year, Japanese government officials said.

The two-way trade talks have taken on greater significance after US President-elect Donald Trump said Washington would withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation deal Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said is key to his reforms and once a pillar of Washington’s pivot to the AsiaPacific.