With the Upper House passing the U.S.-Japan trade agreement Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe achieved one of his most important goals of the current Diet session, and has paved a path for a deal to be ratified on Jan. 1.
In a way, it’s an early Christmas gift from Abe to U.S. President Donald Trump, and the latter could use one: He is besieged by the impeachment inquiry, at a stalemate in trade talks with China and has provoked Brazil, Argentina and France in what could devolve into new trade conflicts.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.