The ruling coalition may give up trying to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership ratified during the current Diet session if resistance from opposition parties means it is delayed beyond the end of April, a senior ruling lawmaker said Wednesday.
In that case, deliberation on the agreement and related bills would be carried over to a Diet session in the fall. The current ordinary Diet session runs until June 1.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed the coalition not to "forcibly" proceed with the TPP deliberations, Kyodo News reported. He is thought to fear a voter backlash in the Upper House election this summer.