The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canada and Mexico face a major hurdle over Japanese autos at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks. The Globe's Steven Chase writes that Canadian negotiators discovered last week the United States had already cut a deal with Japan on how much vehicle content needs to come from TPP countries. Canada and Mexico voiced displeasure with being excluded from these discussions. Japan originally sought a content rule that allowed as little as 30 per cent of a vehicle to come from Pacific Rim nations. The U.S. had wanted a higher bar of 55 per cent before compromising at a lower rate. Canada does not like the proposed exemptions within the formula that Washington hammered out with Tokyo -- one that would have granted Japan the right to use some parts that contained even less content from Trans-Pacific countries. If a part exempted from content rules was also one made in Canada, it would mean Japan could import lower-priced parts from outside the TPP region at the expense of Canadian suppliers. The Japanese government was surprised to learn Canada and Mexico were in the dark on the auto-content deal brokered between Tokyo and Washington.