APEC: Japan's Suga vows to push for bigger trade pacts after RCEP

All eyes on Trump and China ahead of virtual leaders meeting

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's video message to the APEC CEO Dialogues is shown on a screen in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 20. © Malaysia Information Department via Reuters

AKANE OKUTSU and JAMES HAND-CUKIERMAN, Nikkei staff writers

November 20, 2020 12:22 JST

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called for a broader Asia-Pacific free trade framework on Friday, in a video message to Malaysia's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit ahead of a virtual leaders meeting later in the day.

Suga said Japan wants to realize the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, or FTAAP, "through the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the sound execution and expansion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership."