Japanese economy’s vital signs dull in March
TOKYO: Japan will not make concessions on issues such as farm tariffs in two-way trade talks with the US as it did for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told the Nikkei business daily in an interview.
The two started an economic dialogue this month and Vice President Mike Pence put Tokyo on notice that Washington wanted results “in the near future,” adding that the talks could lead to negotiations on a two-way trade deal.
“If we do bilateral negotiations with the US, we cannot make any concessions,” Aso said in Thursday’s interview.
“It would be good if the US joined the TPP later on, once it understands that a free-trade agreement would have tougher terms.”
In January, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 12-nation TPP and stressed that Washington would pursue bilateral trade talks.
Washington probably would want to give an answer by its midterm elections in 2018, Aso said, the Nikkei added.
Aso, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said that the TPP without the US could be ratified “quickly,” adding there is no chance for renegotiation, the report said.
“Since we went to the trouble of spending three years,” in negotiating the trade pact, “it should be ratified,” Aso was quoted as saying.
“There will be no renegotiation of terms.”
Following the US’ departure, Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam are still signed up to the TPP, though most have put off ratifying it.
The TPP requires ratification by at least six countries accounting for 85 percent of the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the member nations.
That criteria cannot be met without the US, so the remaining 11 nations would need to change the wording if they want to ratify the TPP pact.
Meanwhile, Japan reported that its manufacturing output and household spending fell in March, while the jobless rate remained at a 22-year low.
The data released Friday generally were slightly weaker than analysts had forecast, though the outlook for the world’s third-largest economy remained upbeat.
Industrial output fell 2.1 percent from February but was up 3.3 percent from the same month a year earlier. But manufacturers were forecasting a relatively strong 8.9 percent increase in April.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.2 percent, well below the central bank’s official target of 2 percent but still the third straight month of increase.
Unemployment was unchanged from February at 2.8 percent, while the number of jobs available per worker seeking work rose to 1.45, the highest rate since November 1990.
Household spending fell 1.3 percent from the month before and 2 percent from March 2016, while household average incomes adjusted for inflation fell 1.1 percent from a year earlier. Anemic growth in wages and worries over future cuts to pensions and other social spending are constraining the consumer spending that drives growth in Japan.
In a policy statement issued Thursday, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said it expected steady growth in the coming year. It said the economy was in a “modest expansion” helped by a recovery in exports and increased public works spending ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.