U.S. Trade Rep Confident About Trans-Pacific Partnership

SINGAPORE–The top U.S. trade negotiator said he doesn’t see plans for an Asia-only trade pact that would bind China and Japan to other economies throughout the region as a threat to U.S. economic interests.

Instead, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he wants to accelerate efforts to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, which includes a handful of Southeast Asian countries but excludes China and Japan, at least for now.

“I am reasonably confident we’ll get the TPP finished before the comes into being” Mr. Kirk said in a telephone interview Sunday, even though discussions about a free trade area across Asia have gathered momentum recently.

Mr. Kirk spoke from Hanoi, where he met with Vietnamese officials after taking part in a meeting of economic chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.
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