TPP MEANINGLESS WITHOUT US: ABE
In a short video, President-elect Trump says US will drop out of pact
According to Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe, they might try to modify the 12-nation TPP accord to make it more appealing to Trump or seek to implement it without the US
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina— Japan’s prime minister said on Monday the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal would be “meaningless” without US participation, as President-elect Donald Trump announced he planned to quit the pact.
Shinzo Abe’s comment came shortly before the Trump released a short video about his plans for his administration, including an intention to have the United States drop out of the TPP pact.
“I am going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the TPP, a potential disaster for our country,” Trump said.
“Instead, we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores.”
Abe spoke after attending a weekend meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Peru at which some said they might try to modify the 12-nation TPP pact to make it more appealing to Trump or seek to implement it without the US.
US presence ‘a must’
But Abe discounted the idea of going ahead without the Americans being a part of the deal.
“TPP is meaningless without the US,” he said at a news conference during an official visit to Argentina.
He also said the pact couldn’t be renegotiated. “This would disturb the fundamental balance of benefits.”
As Japan’s most powerful leader in a decade, Abe had invested political capital in overcoming strong domestic opposition to the TPP, which Trump has called “a disaster for jobs” in the US.
Abe and the other 20 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group closed their annual summit Sunday with a unified call to resist the protectionist sentiment highlighted by Trump’s victory and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The Japanese leader declined to comment on possible policies of the incoming Trump administration.
Last week, he became the first world leader to meet with Trump since his election.
Abe, who was seeking reassurances over the future of US-Japan security and trade relations, described the meeting as “really, really cordial,” but he offered few details of their discussion.
Japan’s concerns
There are growing concerns in Japan that Trump might follow up his campaign rhetoric and demand that Tokyo pay more for the 50,000 American troops stationed in Japan under a security treaty.
Japan pays about $2 billion a year, about half of the non-personnel costs of stationing the US troops, while South Korea pays about $860 million a year for about 28,000 American troops based there.
Japan’s pacifist constitution, drafted under US direction after World War II, forbids the use of force in settling international disputes, but the government has reinterpreted the constitution to allow Japanese troops to use force in some situations.
For the first time since World War II, Japanese peacekeepers arrived in South Sudan on Monday with a mandate allowing them to use force to protect civilians.
Earlier on Monday, Abe met with Argentine President Mauricio Macri and signed trade deals in the first visit by a Japanese premier to Argentina in 57 years. (AP)