Countries to keep discussing Japan's bid to join Trans-Pacific talks

"The ministers held a long and very productive meeting (on Friday). They intend to continue their discussion tomorrow," USTR spokeswoman Carol Guthrie said in an email from Surabaya, Indonesia, where the talks are being held.

Japan, the world's third-largest economy, struck a deal with the United States last week to get Washington's support to join the TPP talks. But all 11 TPP countries have to agree to let Japan into the three-year-old talks.

Ed Gerwin, a trade analyst at the Washington think tank Third Way, said he still expected the TPP countries to sign off on Japan's entry by the end of the weekend.

"My strong impression is it was pretty imminent, but there were still some issues to be worked out," Gerwin said. "The Japanese wouldn't have asked to join if they weren't 99 percent they were going to get in."

Trade diplomats have said some countries like New Zealand want stronger assurances Japan is willing to discuss phasing out tariffs in all sectors, including sensitive ones like dairy.

Mexico and Canada are said to also have questions about the implications of the U.S.-Japan deal struck last week, which calls for Washington and Tokyo to negotiate separately on "non-tariff barriers" to Japan's auto market and then incorporate the results into the overall TPP pact.

Given the integration of the North American economy, "if we're going to do something with Japan on cars, it probably better include Canada and Mexico, not just for their sake, but for ours," Gerwin said.

The 11 countries currently in the TPP talks are the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Vicki Allen)