Leaders eye expanded US-Asia trade at APEC meet

HAWAII: Nearly two dozen Asia-Pacific leaders hosted by US President Barack Obama gathered Saturday for the APEC summit, buoyed by Japan's decision to enter talks on a deal that could revamp US-Asia trade.

US plans to reorient on Asia after a punishing decade pursuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan received a fillip on the eve of the summit when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda joined trade negotiations on Friday. He was due to meet with Obama later Saturday. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), signed in 2005 as an obscure arrangement between just four members, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore,has suddenly become the cornerstone of a US free trade drive.

The entrance of Japan, the world's third-largest economy, into the talks was seen as imperative if the TPP is to be transformed into a meaningful pact that will knock down trade barriers across the Pacific. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership ministers expect that the leaders of the TPP countries will be able to announce the broad outlines of a high-standard, ambitious, 21st-century trade pact," US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said.

"Of course, many of us believe that TPP can be the basis for a long-term APEC goal: a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific," he told reporters after meeting trade and finance ministers ahead of Sunday's leaders' summit. Experts warned that entry into the negotiations by Japan, which has strong protections for its farming industry, would complicate a process that could now drag on for years. AFP