The Japan’s ruling party, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), held a meeting of its Headquarters for Implementation of TPP Comprehensive Measures on May 17, prior to a ministerial meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be organized in Vietnam on May 21.
At the meeting, Nobuteru Ishihara, Minister in charge of TPP, expressed his concerns by emphasizing “If a new course of direction of the U.S.-less TPP is not worked out, eleven member countries will go their separate ways.”
“We would not like to rule out any option. I will lead the talks with counterparts of TPP 11 countries at a meeting in Vietnam to find out the best way of implementing the high-standard trade rules agreed at the TPP negotiations,” Minister Ishihara said keeping in mind a TPP pact taking effect without participation of the U.S.
A number of LDP members belonging to its organizations for agriculture and other primary industries urged the Minister to take a cautious attitude at the coming Vietnam meeting, saying “We should need to carry out a high-accuracy analysis particularly on possible effects by implementation of the TPP 11 deal.”
“It will be impossible for us to accept new compromises exceeding the level of the existing TPP pact,” some of those LDP members reiterated.