Fast-track TPP trade pact vote to pressure US

Malcolm Turnbull will press for an early vote to ratify the TPP to keep it alive in the face of Trump’s opposition.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull wants an early parliamentary vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Malcolm Turnbull will push for an early parliamentary vote to ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal as part of a concerted push by Australia and Japan to keep it alive in the face of Donald Trump’s election campaign opposition to the pact.

Talks between the Prime Minister and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, in Sydney on the weekend focused on encouraging all 11 TPP signatories other than the US to ratify the pact, to maintain pressure on congress to ­implement it irrespective of the position initially adopted by the Trump administration.

The meeting also revealed increasing Japanese concern about China’s military ambitions in the South and East China seas, insisting on freedom-of-navigation rights, and alarm at North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The two leaders also agreed to deepen defence ties with negotiations on joint training exercises, operations to be finalised by the end of this year, and the signing of a logistical support agreement.

As Mr Trump, who promised during the election campaign to tear up the TPP on his first day, prepares to be inaugurated on ­Friday, Mr Turnbull and Mr Abe sent a clear signal that America’s attitude to the TPP was seen as a symbol of the level of US engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.

“While there is more than a whiff of protectionism in the ­global political environment, the Prime Minister and I are thoroughly committed to free trade and the open markets, to bringing into force the TPP,’’ Mr Turnbull told a gathering of business leaders after meeting Mr Abe.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her Mexican counterpart Luis Videgaray spoke at the weekend, with the Mexican government also indicating it would ratify the agreement, which is currently in the country’s Senate.

The TPP includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore, the US and Vietnam. Negotiations were finalised in October 2015.

Mr Turnbull and Mr Abe emphasised that the US remained the cornerstone of their defence and economic ties in the region. But the message out of the meeting was clear: while both countries would work ­cooperatively with the Trump ­administration and remained committed allies of the US, a loss of US focus and engagement in the Asia-Pacific would create a vacuum that would be filled. Negotiations continue on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership involving 10 countries including Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. In the absence of the TPP, the completion of the RCEP would see China clinch a trade deal with Japan and ­Australia while the US would not be involved in a comprehensive multilateral deal.

The Australian understands that if the TPP does not proceed, Australia may pursue bilateral trade deals with the three members with which it does not have agreements: Mexico, Peru and Canada. While talks on a comprehensive agreement would be likely with Mexico and Peru, more limited talks on services could occur with Canada, which also has a resources-reliant economy.

The moves on the TPP come after informal talks last ­November at APEC in Lima among ­member countries in the wake of Mr Trump’s election campaign opposition to the deal.

Mr Abe drove the TPP through the Japanese parliament and is now pointing to the move as a ­“lesson to the world’’ that the deal must proceed to implementation rather than be renegotiated.

In Australia, the joint standing committee of treaties has recommended ratification and it will now be put to parliament.

In a joint statement after their meeting, Mr Turnbull and Mr Abe said the TPP remained an “indispensable priority because of the significant economic and strategic benefits it offers’’.

Mr Abe said Japan and Australia would “demonstrate to the world anew the importance of free trade’’. “We confirmed we would co-ordinate toward the early entry into force of the TPP,’’ he said.

While the talks between Mr Turnbull and Mr Abe agreed to deepen defence and economic ties, whaling remained an area of discord. Mr Turnbull is understood to have expressed Australia’s “disappointment’’ at Japan’s decision to send its whaling fleet to the Southern Ocean. Mr Abe called on ­Australia to take “appropriate measures’’ to enforce the law of the sea if anti-whaling protesters ­create “excessive disturbance’’.

But both leaders were effusive about the strength of the relationship after the meeting. “We are all-weather friends,” Mr Turnbull said. “We look to Japan as Japan looks to Australia as a reliable and trusted partner. Our meeting has reinforced that the Japan-Australia relationship is truly a very ­special strategic partnership. We’ve confirmed our commitment to the rule of law, free trade, open markets in our region, the foundation on which our prosperity and that of billions of other people in our region depends.’’

The deepening defence relationship between the two nations involves the signing of a logistics agreement and talks are expected to be completed by the end of the year on joint training, exercises and operations between Australian and Japanese defence forces.

The move comes in the wake of Japan’s easing of restrictions on its military operations which were implemented post-WWII.

In a clear warning to China, both leaders expressed “serious concern’’ about the situation in the South China Sea. The statement underlined “Australia and Japan’s shared interests in freedom of navigation, overflight and unimpeded trade in the South China Sea and urged all parties to exercise self-restraint, and to avoid actions that would escalate tensions, including the militarisation of outposts in the South China Sea’’.

The two leaders also condemned “in the strongest terms’’ North Korea’s continued nuclear tests and multiple ballistic missile launches as “destabilising and ­provocative’’. Mr Abe said it was “more necessary than ever before for Japan and Australia … to play a leading role for regional peace and prosperity as we both share ­common values such as freedom, rule of law and democracy’’.