TOKYO, Oct. 21 — Japan is keeping an eye on a move by New Zealand’s incoming Labour Party-led government, which could undermine the prospects of a planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal without the United States.
“The new government has expressed an intention to modify policies including the TTP,” said Japan’s TPP Minister Toshimitsu Motegi at a press conference on Oct. 20. “We will wait and see.”
Agriculture Minister Ken Saito has echoed the caution expressed by Motegi.
With the support of the Greens and NZ First parties, NZ’s prime minister-elect Jacinda Ardern said she will implement policies to ban foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes and she will also renegotiate the TPP.
NZ First Party strongly opposes the inclusion of the so-called investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision in the deal.
NZ’s apparent turnaround could be a blow to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as he had been pushing for the original deal to be carried out together with NZ’s former National Party-led government.
Senior trade officials from the remaining 11 TPP members are expected to meet again in Japan at the end of October to discuss what provisions to be put on ice until the U.S. returns to the TPP deal.
The 11 TPP members are seeking to reach a new agreement when their trade ministers meet at the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam in earlier November.