Japan, US lead economic rule-making under TPP: Japan PM

6 November 2015 06:30 pm

Shinzo Abe

AFP - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday hailed a huge Pacific Rim free-trade deal, saying it showcased a bid by Japan and the United States to set rules for the global economy.
His comments come a day after the long-secret text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was made public.
The massive document, posted online by several governments, offered the first detailed look at the world’s biggest free trade area, which aims to break down barriers to commerce and investment between a dozen countries comprising about 40 percent of the globaleconomy.
The US and Japan are the proposed bloc’s two biggest economies.

“Rules should not be something that are imposed on you -- you make them,” Abe told an economic forum in Tokyo.
“The TPP is the structure where Japan and the US can lead in economic rule-making.”
Abe also said he would “enthusiastically welcome” South Korea and Indonesia, which have signalled interest in joining, into the zone, so long as they “accept the rules” that Tokyo helped write.

The pact, agreed a month ago, aims to break down trade and investment barriers among participating nations Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.