The United States said Thursday it would welcome Japan's participation in a future trans-Pacific trade agreement as it voiced frustration at a lack of new initiatives tying together the two allies.

Japan is debating whether to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact being negotiated by nine nations including the United States, but the government faces strong opposition from farmers.

Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said that Japan and the United States needed to find new areas for cooperation and that the trade agreement was a "potential venue."

"We need to have a conversation -- a more straight-forward conversation -- with friends like Japan about how we can find areas that we can work together" on, Campbell told a conference of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.

The United States has been alarmed by a lack of momentum in its alliance with Japan, which has had a new prime minister each year since 2006, although many Japanese welcomed the rapid US response to its tsunami and nuclear crisis.

"I'm struck that sometimes when we meet we have huge challenges that we deal with, like how to respond to the nuclear challenge," said Campbell, who will visit Japan next week on a regional tour.

"We need to find areas -- positive, outward, engaged initiatives -- where the United States and Japan can chart a new course, not just strategically but economically," he said.

Japan would be the second largest economy in the Trans-Pacific Partnership if it joined. The United States -- along with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam -- hope to announce a framework on the deal at an Asia-Pacific summit in November in Hawaii.

President Barack Obama's administration has promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a new type of trade deal that creates jobs while ensuring stringent labor rights and environmental standards.

But the deal also has critics who argue that major industries in the larger economies -- such as pharmaceuticals in the United States or dairy in New Zealand -- would devastate local players.

Japan's Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives has campaigned vigorously against participation, saying the deal would reduce food security in a country where farmers -- especially of rice -- enjoy generous government support.

Campbell said that President Barack Obama spoke about trade issues during September 21 talks with new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in New York.

"We cannot be perceived as pushing Japan in a direction that they have not made the decision about," Campbell said.

"But at the same time we don't want to appear apathetic and somehow that we're not interested in the progress of trade integration with our closest friend and friends in Asia," he said.

The United States has reached a free trade deal with another key Asian ally, South Korea, which both governments hail as a milestone in relations despite criticism of some of its provisions by labor groups.

The members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are all part of the 21-economy Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, of which the United States is this year's chair.

Kurt Tong, the US official focused on APEC, said that "the most hotly debated topic" in the run-up to the Hawaii summit was a US-led push to open up trade in the growing sector of green-friendly technology.

"We hope to achieve something truly significant in 2011 in liberalizing trade and investment in environmental goods and services in the Asia-Pacific region," Tong said.

Related Links
Global Trade News

Tweet