trade representative michael froman unofficially met. details of the meeting have not been made public, but the officials are believed to have failed to reach an agreement on market access and other related issues. singapore's prime minister is urging japan to abolish tariffs on all products being discussed in the tpp talks. li made the comments in an exclusive interview with nhk. >> from the point of view of most of the countries, approach taken in the tpp is that all tariffs are included and eventually you will be at zero tariffs and there are no exclusions. >> japan is hoping to maintain tariffs on five key farm products, including rice and wheat. li asked japanese trade officials to compromise in order to reach a final agreement, and it's not only japan li is asking for flexibility. >> we have to be practical and to make adjustments in order to get a good outcome. if we insist on a perfect outcome, i think that may be very difficult. >> he is stressing every country involved in the tpp talks should be willing to give in to meet the d

amari met michael froman on sunday. amari is also in charge of new economic measures. leaders hope to finalize this week. but chief cabinet secretary suga said trade negotiations will stay their course. he said amari will give instructions from hospital. ministers regrouped on saturday for more tpp talks. officials will decide if amari attends pending more information about his condition. >>> let's check on the markets now with data from spain with hurting sentiment in european equity markets. the country's manufacturing activity contracted in november for the first time in four months. here's how major indexes are performing at this hour. london's ftse is down about 0.6%. and paris's cac 40 is also down about 0.4%. and in frankfurt's dax, it hit a record high three days in a row last week. the index is now just slightly lower at 9,404. asian markets ended mixed. china was weighed down by the likelihood of the long-awaited restart of public offerings. it drew strength from positive manufacturing data out of china. in jakarta, the main index closed 1.54% higher at 4,321

of race to the bottom an expert i am not yesterday there was a hearing on capitol hill where michael froman the u.s. trade rap. i'm sorry that the t p p is a living agreement and there will be absolutely nothing to change u.s. laws from this agreement with these secret tribunals do you do you believe him rocky absolutely not in fact one of the things that we've only found out because of wiki leaks and thank god for those leakers who are giving the people the information is that they're trying to extend the monopolization period under patents which means far greater costs for medicines that are necessary for life threatening illnesses so i wouldn't trust these people i don't trust a thing they say the representative here in salt lake city for the trade u.s. trade representative said yesterday that they are aiming for and these were her words unprecedented transparency well abbie you're there with the media are you able to get there the text of their the documents that they're proposing because we the people haven't seen anything yet except for what's been leaked through wiki leaks absolutely

trade representative michael froman was one of the speakers. trade ed about the u.s. deals including the transpacific the ership agreement and transalantic partnership with europe. this is a little more than 20 minutes. >> good morning. i appreciate you joining us, ambassador. there's lots to talk about. massive agreements being negotiated in asia and europe. that in a timeay of political paralysis, the an nistration is taking aggressive tone on trade. >> what we have the most vicious now.e agenda right the transpacific partnership, 12 transalantic creative investment partnership, when two, we'llwith those have free trade with 65% to 0% of the global economy. we have three negotiations going on right now in geneva, on trade facilitation, on the elimination barriers, on the technology products and on services. thehere's a lot going on in trade side. and what we achieve these agreements and get them approved congress, it will position the u.s. very well as being a place where people want to produce products and send the world.ere around >> you sound very confident that

michael froman is the united states trade representative, the one who is the point person for deals. he is -- he has known president obama for a long time. before he assumed this role, he worked in a supportive role in the national security role. he has a good background coming in and a very good understanding of the issues. he goes out and tries to bring agreements. try to bring these two conclusion in a way that can get through congress. he will be responsible both for negotiating with our trading partners, and then he will be a point person trying to get them through capitol hill because congress has to vote and approve all of these agreements. host: how much transparency is there in this process? guest: a lot of people would argue not enough. it is a difficult pull and tug on transparency. some groups would like everything out in the open. at the same time, there needs to be transparency. there is a system of about 500 to 600 trade advisers which come from both companies and nongovernmental organizations who are not privy to the text they negotiated. there needs to be as much as

michael froman is the united states trade representative, the one who is the point person for deals.e is -- he has known president obama for a long time. role, he assumed this worked in a supportive role in the national security role. cominga good background in and a very good understanding of the issues. brings out and tries to agreements. try to bring these two conclusion in a way that can get through congress. he will be responsible both for negotiating with our trading partners, and then he will be a point person trying to get them through capitol hill because congress has to vote and approve all of these agreements. >> how much transparency is there in this process? a lot of people would argue not enough. it is a difficult pull and tug on transparency. some groups would like out in the open. at the same time, there needs to be transparency. there is a system of about 500 which comee advisers from both companies and nongovernmental organizations who are not privy to the text they negotiated. there needs to be as much as .ossible just by reading a sentence, you may not be able to