Lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have agreed to call on the government to keep the party's election pledge of refusing to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks if the abolition of tariffs without exception is a precondition.

The move Wednesday came ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama later this month, during which the ongoing TPP negotiations will be a topic of discussion. Abe has said he will seek during his huddle with Obama to "get a feel for" whether exceptions to tariff elimination will be permitted.

"We wanted to show that the LDP is a party that adheres to its election promises," Seishiro Eto, who heads an LDP group on the TPP Pacific Rim free-trade initiative, told reporters after the meeting of the party's Diet members, referring to the LDP's promise during campaigning for the House of Representatives election Dec. 16 that it would oppose Japan's participation in the TPP negotiations if one of the preconditions becomes abolishing tariffs without restriction.