Last summer in 2015, Keidanren sent a large mission to the United States consisting of over 100 company leaders and executives to Washington, DC and 14 cities in 10 states, and reaffirmed the importance of Japan-US relations and the scale of Japanese companies’ contribution to the US economy. This year, as a follow-up to last year’s mission, Keidanren sent another mission participated by 42 corporate executives from 23 member companies to Washington, DC, Denver, Colorado, and Seattle, Washington in the United States and to Ottawa in Canada from May 22 to 28, led by Mr. Kunio Ishihara, Chair of Committee on U.S. Affairs, Mr. Haruo Murase, Chair of Committee on U.S. Affairs and Committee on Canada, and Mr. Akio Dobashi, Chair of Committee on Canada.

This mission had three primary objectives: 1) following from the last year’s mission, to highlight the importance of Japan-US relations and Japanese companies’ contribution to the US economy, and strengthen the relationship with local state governments and the business community; 2) to strengthen relations with the new Trudeau administration inaugurated in November 2015 and with the Canadian business community, through Keidanren’s first mission to Canada in 20 years; and 3) above all, to urge US and Canadian officials to expedite their respective domestic procedures for the swift entry into force of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.