Tokyo

The House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of Japan's parliament, approved a Japan-US trade agreement signed last month, at a plenary session on Tuesday.

The bilateral agreement was passed by a majority vote, with support mainly from the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aims to have the pact approved by the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, by the Dec. 9 end of the ongoing parliamentary session in order to put it into force in January next year.

Under the deal, Japan will lower tariffs on products from the United States, including beef and pork, to the levels set under the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.

The United States will abolish or reduce tariffs chiefly on Japanese industrial products. But it has not made clear a specific schedule for removing tariffs on automobiles and auto parts.

In Upper House deliberations, opposition parties are determined to grill Abe administration officials over the trade agreement, criticizing the lack of a clear path to the automotive tariff abolition.

Jiji Press