TOKYO, Nov. 14 -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted Monday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact is in serious trouble following Republican Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election.
"I recognize that (the TPP) has hit difficult circumstances,"Abe reportedly told a special upper house committee deliberating the TPP pact on Monday.
But he also said he does not believe that TPP is over and that he will talk to Trump about his views on free trade in a bilateral meeting slated for Nov. 17.
He indicated that leaders of the TPP participating nations would hold a meeting on the matter on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders' summit in Peru later in the week, according to Japan's Kyodo News.
The Japanese government is currently pushing the TPP pact in the upper house of parliament in an attempt to get it approved before the current Diet session ending Nov. 30 and making Japan the first signatory to ratify the pact.
Japan's lower house of parliament has voted to ratify the pact and passed a related bill last week, despite the sinking chances of the pact to be ratified in the U.S.
The U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his opposition to the TPP pact and said he would pull the United States out of the TPP as soon as he takes office.
The TPP deal involves Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. It was formally signed by ministers from these 12 countries in February after more than five years' negotiation.