SINGAPORE, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- A four-day Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial meeting kicked off in Singapore on Saturday, with the United States apparently pushing for the conclusion of the talks by the end of the year. The latest round of talks are important as leaders and senior trade officials of the United States have recently said that they are hoping for the talks to conclude by the end of the year.

TOKYO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Akira Amari, Japan's minister in charge of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations of Japan, brushed aside on Sunday the possibility of making further concessions to the United States on sensitive issues. "We had a very tense discussion on outstanding issues, but we reached no conclusion," the minister for economic and fiscal policy told reporters after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Tokyo.

(Reuters) - Asian trade powerhouse South Korea took a step closer on Friday to joining 12-nation talks aimed at slashing trade barriers between nations making up about 40 percent of the world economy. The world's seventh-largest exporter said after a meeting of top economic officials that it would soon enter negotiations with the United States, Japan, Canada and nine others already in the group.

SALT LAKE CITY – Chief negotiators from the 12 countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations set the stage Sunday for next month’s ministerial meeting, ending their talks aimed at sifting through as many thorny issues as possible.

The leak of a document purported to be part of the draft text for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord has further dented optimism talks can be concluded by the end of this year.

Susan Sell is a professor of political science at George Washington University, who has carried out landmark research on international negotiations over intellectual property.

All other countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations except the United States are urging Japan to abolish tariffs on all products, including rice, sources said Friday.

There was a sharp division of opinions over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at the first hearing, organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and held at the COEX Convention Center in Seoul on November 15.

At their talks in Hanoi on Thursday, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung and US Secretary of Treasury Jacob J. Lew discussed financial services, as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

China wasn’t happy when it was excluded from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but now that negotiations for the trade agreement led by the United States are set to conclude by year-end, China may be forced to make reforms in response to the potentially polarizing alliance, regardless of whether it plans to join the TPP.