US faces high Asia stakes

US President Donald Trump embarks Friday on a five-nation tour through Asia where he’ll confront some of the most significant tests of his national security and economic agendas. Mr. Trump arrives in Asia amid deepening concerns over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Key allies in Tokyo and Seoul will be looking for reassurance in the face of dangerous provocations from Kim Jong Un and bellicose statements from the US president himself.

URAYASU, JAPAN — The 11 remaining nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the United States edged towards sealing a comprehensive free trade pact after New Zealand agreed to amend laws that are not subject to TPP, to enable its ban on foreign home purchases.

The pact aims to eliminate tariffs on industrial and farm products across an 11-nation bloc whose trade totaled $356.3 billion last year.

This week’s compromise saves member nations from having to renegotiate the ambitious trade pact to accommodate the New Zealand government’s demands for firm measures to rein in housing prices.

It also brings member countries closer to an important victory in support of free trade to be finalized at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next week in Vietnam’s central city of Danang.

“The momentum towards (an agreement) at the meeting in Danang has significantly increased,” said Japan’s chief TPP negotiator, Kazuyoshi Umemoto.

Negotiators gathered for three days in Urayasu, east of the Japanese capital, to narrow down which terms of the original 12-nation deal to suspend, so as to salvage the pact at the Vietnam summit. —