Japan Sees TPP as Core Deal for Inclusive Economic Growth in Asia-Pacific

Spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said that Japan sees TPP as a core tool to promote inclusive economic growth in Pacific Rim economies.

LIMA (Sputnik) — Japan sees the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as a core tool to promote inclusive economic growth in Pacific Rim economies, government spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said in Lima on Sunday.

"Japan's answer to the rising skepticism in free trade and concerns for the disparity and inequality that are bringing out protectionism is to secure the inclusive growth. To do so, we would like to promote a free trade system and TPP is going to play important role in this exercise," he said at a press briefing after the APEC summit.

The spokesman expressed hope that Pacific Rim economies would support the establishing of a TPP free trade zone despite skepticism after Donald Trump's victory. The US president-elect took a protectionist stance on free trade deals while on the campaign trail, shifting the focus from the global trade to national economic development.