The White House on Friday dashed hopes of a breakthrough on US-Japan trade when US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meet in Washington this coming week, further delaying a major 12-nation Pacific trade pact.
“We’re not there yet,” US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Caroline Atkinson said.
A deal between Japan and the US is vital to clinching a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, as their economies account for 80 percent of the group. Obama also sees the TPP, which would cover a third of world trade, as an important counterweight to China’s growing clout in the region.
Atkinson said substantial progress had been made in intense high-level negotiations in Tokyo this week, but more work was needed, especially on the thorny issues of autos and agriculture.
“We expect the leaders ... to have the opportunity to discuss what should be the next steps together, but we do not expect any announcement of a final deal,” she told reporters in a conference call previewing Tuesday’s White House summit.
At the same time, White House officials welcomed momentum on Capitol Hill for legislation to speed such trade deals through US Congress, despite resistance from some of Obama’s fellow Democrats who worry that trade accords hurt US jobs.
So-called “fast track” authority to speed such trade deals through Congress is the other missing link for the TPP. Although legislation cleared congressional panels this week, it is not expected to come for a full vote until early next month.
Trade ministers from the 12 countries in the proposed pact are due to meet late next month.
US Trade Representative Michael Froman said at a conference that negotiators were working to resolve sticking points so that the handful of remaining issues needing political decisions could be “teed up” for ministers.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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