Japan, US aim for TPP progress before summit

Tokyo

JAPANESE and US officials will meet from Wednesday in a bid to strike a two-way deal that would give momentum to a pan-Pacific free-trade pact, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), in time for a leaders' summit late this month.

Success, however, depends heavily on whether the US Congress, which returns from recess this week, will approve measures to ease passage of trade deals, or trade promotion authority (TPA), Japanese officials have said.