Trade officials from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries will meet in Singapore on May 19-20 and open discussions on the remaining issues to be resolved. The Singapore meeting follows the recent talks between the United States and Japan on bilateral issues involving agriculture and automobiles. Although no agreement has been announced between the United States and Japan, progress was reportedly made, and the United States has said it is now necessary for broader market access talks to begin with all the TPP members.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is in Paris this week for the spring meeting of the Organizaton for Economic Cooperation and Development, where he has held meetings with trade officials from several of the TPP countries, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. Next week, TPP chief negotiators will meet in Vietnam for more discussions and try to build on the reported progress made by the United States and Japan.
