According to Yonhap News Agency’s report on April 15, “Nikkei Shimbun” reported on the 15th that the Japanese government plans to promote TPP negotiations among 11 countries except the United States. To this end, a ministerial meeting of 11 countries will be held in Vietnam in late May to formally discuss the promotion plan. Last year, Shinzo Abe insisted that the TPP without the United States was meaningless. Analysts say Japan changed its TPP strategy because it became increasingly clear that the Trump administration in the United States has no objection to advancing the TPP excluding the United States.
The Japanese government stated that the United States agreed with Japan to promote the 11-country TPP to promote regional economic development. Analysts say that if Japan promotes the entry into force of the 11-nation TPP, it can on the one hand contain China, which is rising in the Asia-Pacific region, and on the other hand, it can contain the United States, which emphasizes bilateral trade negotiations. It will also leave room for the United States to return to multilateral trade negotiations in the future. However, although Japan and Australia currently have positive attitudes toward the 11-nation TPP, countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia that value the United States, a huge export market, may find it difficult to change their negative attitudes.
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