Nikkei wrote that Economic Revitalization Minister Motegi will visit Bangkok during the Golden Week holidays in early May to brief local officials on the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, noting that the Japanese official is eager to recruit more new members for the regional free trade framework in a bid to forestall the Trump administration’s renewed push for sealing a bilateral FTA. Noting that the Thai government is also being pressed by Washington to enter bilateral FTA talks, the paper projected that if Bangkok elects to join the CPTPP, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other Asian nations may follow suit. The GOJ is reportedly hoping that the possible addition of new Asian members would prompt the U.S. business community to ask the Trump administration to return to the regional trade arrangement.