Saturday morning’s Asahi and Nikkei carried their respective interviews with former USTR Froman, who projected that a U.S.-Japan FTA will probably not be realized in the near future, as the Trump administration will prioritize trade negotiations with NAFTA partners, China, and South Korea. The Obama administration’s top trade negotiator criticized the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the TPP by saying that it was “one of the biggest strategic mistakes in U.S. history.”  He underscored that as a result of the departure, the U.S. has lost its trade leadership in the Asia-Pacific region. Froman urged the remaining 11 TPP member states to preserve the agreed-upon terms and conditions of the free trade pact.