U.S., Japan reaffirm commitment to finalize TPP negotiations, but no breakthrough expected this week

The United States and Japan on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to finalizing negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that covers 40 percent of the global economy, but they are not expected to reach a breakthrough on the outstanding issues in the bilateral trade talks this week.

In a joint statement issued by the U.S. and Japan governments, the two sides said they have made "significant progress" in the bilateral trade talks and will work together to "achieve a swift and successful conclusion to the broader agreement."

While U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss the Asia Pacific free trade pact with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on Tuesday, the two leaders are not expected to reach a bilateral deal over the market access negotiations of agriculture and autos.

Obama said Monday that some sticking points remain to be resolved in bilateral trade talks and that he didn't expect the two sides could complete all negotiations this week.

The U.S. wants Japan to raise the cap on the amount of rice the U.S. can sell to the country without tariffs, while Tokyo wants Washington to drop tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts, according to the local news website Politico.

A deal between the United States and Japan is very crucial to the conclusion of the overall TPP negotiations, as the two economies account for 80 percent of gross domestic product in the TPP framework involving 12 nations in the Asia Pacific region.

"A lot of countries have been waiting for the U.S. and Japan to substantially finish their market access talks, so that they can get to start their own negotiations with Japan", Jeffery Schott, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told reporters in a conference call on Monday.

The Obama administration is working hard to conclude the TPP negotiations this year, but analysts said other trading partners are not likely to make significant concessions until Obama has secured the so-called fast-track authority to speed consideration of any trade agreements through U.S. Congress.

The fast-track authority, formally known as trade promotion authority (TPA), empowers the president to negotiate trade deals and then present them to Congress for up-or-down votes, with no amendments allowed.

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee approved the legislation to grant Obama the fast-track authority last week, but final congressional passage is far from certain, as liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans have aligned to block Obama's trade agenda. Endite