the japanese government on friday urged parliament to approve the trans-pacific partnership trade deal quickly, showing the drive in asia to keep it alive despite opposition from u.s. presidential candidates hillary clinton and donald trump. <u+201c>japan<u+2019>s ratification would give an impetus for early ratification in the united states,<u+201d> said nobuteru ishihara, prime minister shinzo abe <u+2019>s minister in charge of tpp, as lawmakers opened deliberations. some other participants in the 12-nation pact including australia are also pressing ahead with ratification, although not as quickly as japan. mr. abe<u+2019>s government wants to enact the tpp legislation before the u.s. congress begins a lame-duck session on nov. 14. the push comes despite the seemingly definitive statements from both mr. trump, the republican nominee, and mrs. clinton, the democrat, that they are against tpp, as well as strong opposition in congress from both parties. officials in japan and australia say they hold out hope that once the u.s. political season is over, a lame-duck session while president barack obama is still in office might offer a window for ratification. mr. obama<u+2019>s administration negotiated the deal and he has strongly backed it . australian trade minister steve ciobo said in an interview he was <u+201c>cautiously optimistic<u+201d> about u.s. ratification. one advantage for asia-pacific nations of ratifying the deal early is to forestall talk in washington of redoing it. <u+201c>we have no appetite<u+2014>i have no appetite at all<u+2014>for any renegotiation of the agreement,<u+201d> said mr. ciobo. his sentiment was echoed by singapore<u+2019>s prime minister lee hsien loong. <u+201c>i think it<u+2019>s going to be very difficult to put a whole package together again. at best, it will take some years. at worst, it may unravel the whole deal,<u+201d> mr. lee said in tokyo last month. japanese leaders see the trade deal as the linchpin of both economic and national-security strategy. <u+201c>free trade has been the foundation of postwar economic development of japan,<u+201d> mr. abe said thursday. officials say the tpp would eliminate tariffs immediately on more than 80% of japanese auto parts exported to the u.s., helping japanese auto makers operate their u.s. factories at lower cost. and they say that if the u.s. teams up with regional allies to set rules for trade, it would send a signal to china <u+2014>which isn<u+2019>t part of the deal<u+2014>that washington is maintaining a strong presence in the region. for the tpp to take effect, it has to be ratified by at least six members, representing 85% of their combined gross domestic product. that means the u.s. must approve the deal or it dies. the tpp would eliminate most tariffs and other trade barriers within the 12 nations<u+2014>the u.s., japan, vietnam, malaysia, singapore, australia, new zealand, brunei, canada, mexico, chile and peru. it also includes rules on worker rights and the environment. japan sent a business mission to south korea this week aimed at winning seoul<u+2019>s participation in tpp, another attempt to show u.s. lawmakers how it could bring together u.s. allies in the region. critics in the u.s. say the tpp would allow more imports in, reducing jobs at home and driving down wages. some specific provisions involving protection for intellectual property such as drug patents have also drawn fire, with critics on various sides describing the deal as either too harsh or too generous to drugmakers. in japan, the deal has drawn concern from farmers who would lose many of their tariff protections. governments in tokyo and canberra face modest hurdles to ratification. opposition parties sat out the japanese parliament session on friday. they have said mr. abe is moving too quickly, but his coalition easily has the votes to override the resistance. australian prime minister malcolm turnbull <u+2019>s party doesn<u+2019>t have enough votes to ratify on its own and faces some opposition on tpp. mr. ciobo said final ratification would likely wait until early next year. meanwhile, vietnam has put off plans to ratify tpp this year. national assembly member cao si kiem said american politics weren<u+2019>t the main factor. <u+201c>the key reason is that many vietnamese companies haven<u+2019>t shown that they are ready and competitive enough for international economic integration,<u+201d> he said. some in japan argue that mr. abe<u+2019>s zeal could actually undermine his position. <u+201c>the more eager japan looks to ratify the tpp, the more it would make it look as if the deal was more favorable to japan than to the u.s.,<u+201d> said opposition lawmaker nobuyuki fukushima at a parliamentary session oct. 4. <u+2014>saurabh chaturvedi in singapore and khanh vu in hanoi contributed to this article. write to mitsuru obe at mitsuru.obe@wsj.com and rob taylor at rob.taylor@wsj.com
japan makes early push in asia to ratify tpp trade deal - wsj
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