Japanese parliament ratifies TPP trade pact

Abe wins parliamentary approval despite Trump’s plans to withdraw

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wins approval despite US President-elect Donald Trump’s bid to withdraw from the 12-nation agreement.

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won parliamentary approval for ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw from the 12-nation trade pact.

Upper house lawmakers approved the TPP yesterday, heeding Abe’s calls to push ahead with it despite Trump’s rejection of the free trade initiative championed by President Barack Obama.

Japan’s ratification still requires Cabinet approval of needed regulatory revisions.

The market opening measures required by the trade pact are seen as a way for Abe to push through difficult reforms of the agricultural and health sectors. So far, Abe has made scant progress on a slew of changes he has proposed to help improve Japan’s lagging productivity and competitiveness.

Trump has vowed to take steps to exit the pact right after he takes office. A US withdrawal would kill the trade pact unless its terms are revised.

The agreement between the dozen members requires both the US and Japan to join to attain the required 85% of the group’s total GDP since the US economy accounts for 60% of that total, and Japan less than 20%.

After expending political capital to fight vested interests fearful of market opening and reforms likely to be required by the trade pact, Abe and other leaders in Asia have bemoaned the impending loss of the US as TPP flag bearer.

“We want to carry this out and expect others will follow suit,” Abe recently told a parliamentary committee.

Leaders in New Zealand and several other countries have said they still hope to find a way to rescue the initiative. — AFP