WASHINGTON — President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will tackle a number of issues during Obama’s state visit to Japan, but one issue rises above the rest: whether the two countries can resolve enough of their economic differences to help unlock a broader trade deal across the entire Asia-Pacific region.
The United States and Japan are among a dozen countries that have spent nearly four years negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an ambitious effort to create a free-trade zone that would stretch from North and South America to New Zealand and Asia. The nations working on the accord account for 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.
Government officials and many experts describe the accord as a way to deepen America’s ties with a dynamic economic region, without alienating China. National security adviser Susan Rice told reporters Friday that over the next five years, ‘‘nearly half of all growth outside the United States is expected to come from Asia.’’ The trade deal ‘‘is a focal point of our effort to establish high standards for trade across the Asia-Pacific and to ensure a level playing field for US businesses and workers,’’ she added.
Mireya Solis, a Japan specialist at the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, said the talks are a way for the United States to rebalance its relationship with Asia, not just in military terms but in a way ‘‘that taps into Asian economic optimism and that [avoids] highlighting China as a main security competitor.’’ This rebalancing ‘‘is actually an inclusive, expansive project,’’ she said.
An array of details must be worked out among the many countries involved, ranging from what sort of protections intellectual property will enjoy to how to treat state-owned enterprises, which make up a large part of the economy in countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam. But outside analysts and government officials believe an agreement between the United States and Japan will provide significant momentum for the talks.
‘‘Both sides recognize they have to get a deal done, because the US-Japan differences on agriculture [are] the main bottleneck for resolving many of the outstanding issues in the TPP,’’ said Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Two primary areas, agricultural products and automobiles, have been the main sticking points in the two countries’ negotiations. The Japanese government has traditionally been reluctant to take on rice and cattle farmers, two important domestic constituencies, and the Japanese auto market is one of the most closed in the world. Only about 6 percent of the autos sold in Japan are foreign. ‘‘Japan does not embrace the model of free trade,’’ said Steve Biegun, vice president of international government affairs at Ford Motor Co.