Japan and the United States have moved closer on remaining gaps over a Pacific free trade pact and senior officials of the two countries will meet again in Tokyo, a Japanese official said Friday.
Trade officials from the two nations involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative agreed to hold what could be the last round before a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama in Tokyo on Thursday, hoping for a breakthrough in the market access impasse.
"We still have big differences," Akira Amari, the Japanese minister in charge of TPP negotiations, told reporters after wrapping up a three-day ministerial meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. The talks ended Friday morning.