Mr. Abe goes to Washington to dispel trade deal doubts
Historic visit: Japan’s PM urges Congress to help expedite agreement
Undoubtedly, the news this week with the biggest impact for the Pacific Rim happened thousands of miles away from the Pacific itself.
In Washington, D.C., Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a historic visit, becoming the first Japanese leader to address a joint meeting of Congress last Wednesday.
The message was as loud and clear as the standing ovation given to Abe by the American senators and congressional members in attendance: The United States and Japan, two of the world’s three largest economies, are not ready to relinquish their role in steering Asia’s future.
Abe’s visit comes at a crucial point in Washington-Tokyo relations. The 12-nation freetrade zone, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is entering the final and most crucial negotiating stages. Already behind schedule, doubt had been creeping in that the deal may not get done.
The key sticking point in the talks appears to be the reluctance of Congress — or, more specifically, Obama’s own Democratic Party — to give American negotiators “fasttrack” authority to reach a deal with the other 11 countries involved. Having fasttrack authority means, among other things, that negotiators can present Congress with the final agreement as a takeit-or-leave-it deal. This would avoid a painstaking point-by-point scrutinizing process by Congress that would almost certainly derail the deal.
And the stakes are high. A TPP zone that creates new international standards not only for free trade, but for intellectual property rights, supply chain management, environment and labour standards can set precedents in global relations that could be incentive for other economies looking to join. And as founders, the United States and Japan (along with Canada, one of the 12 negotiating parties) will have more say in how those precedents are set.
Abe himself addressed the issue in urging Congress to accept the TPP as part of the growing economic, political and military alliance between Washington and Tokyo.
“The TPP goes far beyond just economic benefits,” Abe said during Wednesday’s speech, noting the deal’s significance to regional security. “Long-term, its strategic value is awesome.”
Given the lack of news coming out of TPP negotiations, Abe’s appearance in Washington no doubt sent the message that both the United States and Japan — the two biggest players in the TPP — want to get it done.
How Japan’s neighbours in Asia — some of whom have frosty relations with Tokyo — react to this strengthening alliance could be key in shaping the future of the region. For it’s part, Japan continues to stress its increasing assertiveness on contributing to global security. Whether Tokyo and Washington can convince others that the “Pivot to the Pacific” will be best for everyone will likely determine the success of this alliance.