In comments reported by the national broadcaster NHK today, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said he believed the TPP trade talks would offer greater advantages to Japan than bilateral negotiations with the US.
Aso made the comments at a conference in New York City. The remarks appeared to allude to US Vice President Mike Pence's comments, after meeting Aso in Tokyo earlier this week, that the US considered the TPP a "thing of the past."
Pence said the Trump administration believed that only bilateral trade negotiations would yield "win-win" outcomes. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, told lawmakers today that Japan would focus on what's best for its own interests.