Japanese business leaders on Monday welcomed the Indo-Pacific economic initiative launched by U.S. President Joe Biden and joined by a dozen countries including Japan. Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Japan's largest business lobby Keidanren, told a press conference the Indo-Pacific economic framework, or IPEF, launched Monday could be a step toward Washington's return to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major regional free trade agreement from which it opted out in 2017. Tokura expressed hope that Japan's participation will "encourage (more) Southeast Asian nations to join" IPEF, currently compri...
