OUR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT:

The world is witnessing a profound economic initiative in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - the regional free trade agreement currently under negotiation between the United States and ten other countries in the Americas and in the Asia-Pacific Region.  These negotiations were energized in March by Japan's decision to seek participation, and a short time later, with the Obama administration's pledge to support their inclusion. It's clear that a global free trade agreement, which includes the first and third largest economies - and all of NAFTA - will truly achieve "game changer" status.  With Japan, the TPP would cover 40 percent of global GDP, and nearly 10 percent of total trade, including one third of U.S. external trade. With these growth prospects in mind, Japan should be welcomed by all parties to the TPP. [...]

A desire for greater inclusiveness is already evidenced by the President's success in securing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in his first term with Panama, Colombia and South Korea. [...]

The facts are compelling.  Japan has been a major investor in Latin America and particularly in Mexico, Peru, and Chile.  While commerce in general has declined compared to the levels of the 1980s and '90s, Japan serves as the destination of more than 10 percent of Chilean, and five percent of Peruvian exports.

Japan is already the source of four percent of both Peruvian and Mexican imports.  And we can anticipate that the expanded trade freedom that will result from the TPP will only increase Japan's appetite for Latin American products, while also helping to better integrate their value chain, something that is sorely missing in South American countries. 

Follow @brothersjudd