Ministers from the United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries began make-or-break talks Wednesday on concluding a sweeping free trade deal that would encompass 40 percent of the global economy.
But the high-level talks on the envisioned U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership were adjourned after only about an hour, with TPP minister Akira Amari and many of the other participants engaging in a series of bilateral sessions.
Amari and other members of the Japanese delegation indicated there was little progress on the thorny issues of new drug patents, tariffs on automobiles and market access for dairy products.