Japan’s parliament passes trade bills required to ratify TPP-11

TOKYO, June 30 — Japan’s parliament has passed trade bills that were required to ratify the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as the TPP-11, after the United States pulled out.

The TPP-11 deal will enter into force 60 days after six of the 11 countries ratify the deal, a process that involves amending their respective domestic laws.

With Mexico completing to ratify the deal in April, Japan will likely become the second country late July. New Zealand, Australia and other countries are also pushing ahead with legislation to bring the pact into force as early as this year.

In the meantime, Japan is set to launch free, fair and reciprocal (FFR) talks with the U.S. late July.

Yet, it is unclear at this point what type of trade issues the two countries would work on.

For Japan, keeping the TPP-11 has become Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s core strategy for dealing with U.S. pressure to begin negotiations on a bilateral trade deal.

This is because Tokyo fears U.S. demands to further market access, particularly in areas such as cars and beef, which may go beyond the concessions it made as part of the original TPP.

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