TPP talks: no consensus on resumption date

Tokyo

NO agreement has been reached on the date for a new round of talks on a pan-Pacific trade deal after ministers failed to overcome feuds over car trade, dairy goods and next-generation drugs, a senior Japanese official said on Thursday. Failure to clinch a deal was a setback for US President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia and efforts to counter China's clout. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also cast the deal as crucial to his efforts to reboot Japan's stale economy.

Ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would stretch from Japan to Chile and cover 40 per cent of the global economy, fell short of a deal at talks on the Hawaiian island of Maui, despite early optimism.