High-level partnership creates big problems as it is hard to arrive at consensus. Especially, when it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Within his latest trip to Asia, President Obama visited Japan. But the bilateral trade agreement, which was supposed to be signed during the stay, was put on hold. Despite the lengthy negotiations, the United States and Japan failed to reach a compromise on that matter since none of the pact’s terms were approved by the parties. The matter of dispute was market access issues related to agriculture and automobiles. So, despite the impassioned speeches delivered by the U.S. president and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the deal was not completed during Obama’s visit. The issue will be on the agenda at the upcoming meetings. "There was progress of course, but it's not something like a basic agreement," Japan’s chief negotiator Akira Amari stated later. The Unites States, in its turn, also confirmed that negotiations were a success, anyway. The mutual statement says that the parties made progress in talks, and this milestone achievement will provide “significant momentum” to the overall TPP negotiations. The concrete achievements have not been specified yet. Barack Obama intends to remove various administrative and customs barriers between 12 TPP countries. The American government was planning to strike the agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in late 2013. The TPP intends to enhance trade and investment among the 12 members, which account for 40% of the world’s production and 30% of the global trade turnover.