The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, to which both Canada and Japan are signatories, was supposed to be a new-generation trade agreement to break the deadlock of the multilateral trade negotiations in Geneva. However, with the major candidates in the U.S. Presidential Election showing no support for the agreement, the future of the TPP appears to be bleak. The failure of the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has made the whole picture look even bleaker. In his talk, Professor Araki will share his views on the future of the TPP and the multilateral trading system in general.
Speaker: Professor Ichiro Araki (Yokohama National University) teaches international economic law and trade policy at Yokohama National University in Japan. He joined the faculty in July 2003 as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor in April 2005. Before joining academia, he served as a government official for nearly 20 years. Professor Araki joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1983. During most of his career at MITI (later METI), he was involved in multilateral economic affairs, including development assistance, intellectual property, environmental protection and multilateral trade negotiations. From 1995 to 1998, he served as legal affairs officer at the Legal Affairs Division of the World Trade Organization. Professor Araki is currently nominated by the Japanese Government as a candidate for the Appellate Body.
