Undeterred by vigorous opposition in the U.S. to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Abe administration expressed determination Friday to swiftly ratify the free trade agreement and pressure Washington to follow in its footsteps.

As Diet deliberations on the multinational deal kicked off, members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet reaffirmed their determination to pass a bill to ratify the pact before this legislative session ends Nov. 30.

"It is imperative Japan take the lead in approving the deal and create momentum within the U.S.," Nobuteru Ishihara, minister in charge of economic revitalization, told a special Lower House committee on the TPP. "We need to steer America."