Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda told reporters in Japan on Friday that Asian Nations will seek to join the nine-party talks aimed at creating a free trade zone of the Pacific Rim.
This announcement came as lawmakers, U.S. cars and the Labour Union United Auto Workers Union is urging the Obama administration is not that Japan can take part, citing the small numbers of U.S. auto exports to Japan.
U.s. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Friday the US will start talks with Japan to determine if they should join the Trans-Pacific partnership negotiations formally, known as TPP.
"To join the negotiations, Japan must be prepared to meet the high standard of TPP for liberalizing trade and to address the special problems of concern regarding United States barriers to agricultural trade, services and manufacturing, including non-tariff measures," Kirk said.
Talks aimed at extending the Trans-Pacific partnership has been going on since 2010, and a world leader in this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Honolulu was expected to announce an update of progress to reach an agreement framework.