TPP Members Agree to Start Preparations for Future Expansion

Tokyo, July 18 (Jiji Press)--Chief negotiators from the 11 member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact agreed Wednesday to start preparations to accept new members after the pact takes effect. The accord came on the first day of their two-day meeting in the hot spring resort of Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The negotiators confirmed that any new members would have to accept the pact's trade and investment rules while being allowed to negotiate on tariffs. The 11-member TPP pact will take effect 60 days after at least six of the 11 members finish related domestic procedures. This may happen in early 2019. The deal was signed in March this year after the United States withdrew from the earlier version of the TPP just after the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2017. Japan and Mexico have already completed their domestic procedures. At the Hakone meeting, some other countries including Singapore and New Zealand expressed their willingness to follow suit within the year, according to a Japanese government source. Meanwhile, Thailand reiterated its wish to join the TPP, at a ministerial meeting with Japan in Tokyo the same day. Also on the day, British Ambassador to Japan Paul Madden told a press conference in Tokyo that International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will hold talks with Japanese officials on their country's possible participation in the TPP during his visit to the Asian country later this month. END