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Japan's Amari: Hard to hold TPP ministerial talks this month


    TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said on Wednesday that it would be difficult to hold ministerial-level talks this month on a pan-Pacific trade deal that is a key component of U.S. President Barack Obama's strategic rebalance to Asia.

    Amari spoke to reporters after U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday extended until late July a deadline for a second vote on legislation central to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, giving supporters time to obtain more backing for it.

    Amari added he was neither optimistic nor excessively pessimistic on the outlook for the 12-nation trade pact, which he said the world was watching as a new world standard.

    Japan hopes the TPP will help anchor ally Washington in Asia and create a rule-based regime that would eventually draw in China, whose rise is seen as a challenge to the U.S.-dominated economic architecture in the region.

    (Reporting by Ami Miyazaki; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Chris gallagher)