Spicer said China, after Mr Trump's recent meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the president's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, has been applying pressure including reducing the quantity of coal it accepts from North Korea.
Advocates for the TPP, negotiated by former President Barack Obama, said it would have dramatically reduced tariffs on USA goods and opened new markets.
"In the past, U.S. -Japan economic relations have started from friction, but we're entering a new area where we start from cooperation", he told the news conference.
The loss of US participation in the TPP was a blow to Japan following strenuous negotiations, especially over opening access wider to its long-protected farm sector.
U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of economic nationalism that he called "America First".
"North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region", Pence said. The White House adviser said Tuesday's talks would not prescribe a free-trade deal but talks might eventually lead to such negotiations.
"We're reviewing all our trade agreements across the world to ensure they benefit our economy as much as they benefit our trading partners", Pence said. It is his first trip to Asia as vice president.
"That's a common failure mode for North Korean missiles very early on in their development cycle when they are working out the bugs in the propulsion and guidance system", the weapons expert told AFP.
On March 14, the USA, along with allies South Korea and Japan, responded to the North's earlier missile tests, dispatching high-tech missile defense ships to the same area where Pyongyang had previously fired the four missiles.
North Korea could potentially strike Australia if its missile program was allowed to continue, she said.
Last year, Japan had a $69 billion trade surplus with the United States, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Pence's advisers said the vice president would make the case to Abe and Aso that the US rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, under Trump does not signal a USA withdrawal from trade and economic development in the region.
Russell Westbrook ties Oscar Robertson with 41st triple-double of the season
Westbrook finished the game with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists and the playoff-bound Thunder snapped a two-game skid. Westbrook is averaging a triple-double at the moment with 31.9 points, 10.6 rebounds , and 10.4 assists per game.
Pence told Abe that the US administration is determined to work with Japan, China and South Korea on the issue to find a resolution, and that all options are on the table.
Wu did not mention sanctions during the interview, reiterating China's commitment to a peaceful resolution through dialogue, the same stance Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed to U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call last week.
The Pentagon has not discussed which missile blew up after its launch Sunday from a base near Sinpo on the North's east coast, and the White House has said only that it was a medium-range device.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence shake hands prior to a luncheon hosted by Abe at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017.
Pence reassured Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday that the US considers its alliance with Japan to be a cornerstone of security in the region.
Pence said, "We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan".
Pence was having lunch with Abe at the prime minister's official residence after arriving in Japan earlier in the day for the second stop of a 10-day Asia tour.
They also echo those of U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who told reporters that Washington was eager to increase trade ties with Tokyo through a two-way pact.
The focus of his trip is expected to shift in Japan to trade.
That deal was soon scuppered, however, when North Korea carried out its first nuclear test in October 2006 then pulled out of the discussions in 2009.
American Chamber of Commerce leaders have voiced concern that the Trump administration is being overly critical of the trade agreement by putting too much emphasis on a trade deficit that is just one aspect of a complex and evolving economic relationship.
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