Ex-US trade chiefs pin high TPP hopes on Katherine Tai

Bilateral free trade agreement with Japan should be first focus, Rob Portman says

20201217NY Katherine Tai standing at podium

Katherine Tai, the incoming administration's choice for U.S. trade representative, speaks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 11 as President-elect Joe Biden, right, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris listen. © AP

ALEX FANG, Nikkei staff writer

NEW YORK -- Former U.S. trade representatives expressed hopes Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden's choice for the job will steer a swift return to the Trans-Pacific Partnership as Washington loses ground to a stronger China on setting the rules of the road for trade.

Katherine Tai's predecessors from both sides of the aisle cited a need to reengage with the region following President Donald Trump's abandonment of the TPP, speaking out at an online panel hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

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