Members of a Pacific Rim trade initiative rejected by US President Donald Trump are scheduled to hold working-level talks today in the Japanese mountain resort town of Hakone, west of Tokyo.
The three-day meeting among envoys from the 11 remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) follows a breakthrough last week on a Japan-EU trade deal seen as a repudiation of the US moves to pull back from such arrangements.
Last week, Japan named a new chief negotiator for TPP talks, Kazuyoshi Umemoto, a former ambassador to Italy.
Other TPP members — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — hope to make progress on an alternative that does not include the US before an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam in November.
Japanese officials said they are hoping the TPP talks would get a boost from the Economic Partnership Agreement reached with the EU, which dismantles trade barriers and eases tariffs on a wide range of products for the two markets accounting for almost one-third of world economic activity.
Supporters of the TPP say it would set high standards for modern trade rules, labor, environmental and intellectual property protections.
Critics say it puts corporate interests ahead of the public good and national sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the EU could drop investment from major free-trade deals in an effort to ease ratification, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said on Monday as Brussels is set to begin talks on the issue with Japan.
“We have to discuss with [EU] member states on this issue but I wouldn’t be surprised if they agree,” Katainen said. “Let’s keep free-trade agreements as they are ... and then investment-related issues could be seen, or must be seen ... separate from trade deals.”
Japan and the EU are still very far apart on investment and so-called investment courts, a controversial mechanism usually included in trade deals to resolve disputes.
This mechanism has come under furious opposition in Europe and the EU is trying — so far unsuccessfully — to persuade international partners to adopt a new system staffed by public as opposed to private sector officials.
A publicly run system as desired by Brussels “will take some time” even if it is a “good sustainable solution,” Katainen said.
However, Japan insists on sticking to the old system, which is a deal breaker for the Europeans.
While investment “plays a role in the future” of EU free-trade agreements, for the time being and with certain countries they are not necessarily the top priority, Katainen said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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