Abe, Turnbull Highlight Commitment to TPP, Trade Ties in Bilateral Talks

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in Sydney last weekend to discuss a host of trade issues, including their plans to move forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Meeting on Saturday 14 January, the leaders also affirmed their continued commitment to deepening bilateral trade ties. Abe’s visit to Australia represented part of a four-country tour in the Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam, aimed at strengthening trade and security relations in the region. The TPP, a planned pact between 12 nations in the Asia-Pacific, covers 37 percent of global GDP and a population of over 819 million. The agreement promises to eliminate over 98 percent of tariffs in the region and provide transparent and stable conditions for investors. With negotiations completed in late 2015 and the deal signed in February 2016, the accord has since been pending ratification by the signatories’ domestic legislatures, with Japan being the latest to ratify in December. (See Bridges Weekly, 15 December 2016 ) As the second-largest economy in the region, the enactment of the deal hinges in large part on Japan, though ratification by the US is also one of the pre-conditions for its entry into...