Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will inform U.S. President Barack Obama during next week's East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh that Japan takes a positive view on joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement.
Noda is aiming to accelerate talks with the Obama side on participating in the free-trade accord before the next round of multilateral negotiations is held next month in New Zealand, political sources said Thursday.
As Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers strongly oppose Japan's participation in the TPP discussions, Noda is also hoping that expressing a positive intention toward the initiative might garner the support of like-minded voters ahead of the Dec. 16 general election, the sources said.