Category Archives: Trade Talks

At the U.S. presidential election held on November 8, when ballots were counted immediately after voting finished, Republican nominee Donald Trump, 70, a celebrity businessman, was elected President of the United States of America by defeating Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, 69, former U.S. Secretary of State. Trump’s triumph over Clinton has made it remarkably difficult for twelve member countries, including Japan, of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement to forecast when the agreement will take effect, since he had insisted on leaving the TPP during his election campaign in which the free trade pact was one of the top agenda items. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has been consistently opposing … Continue reading →

A bill to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement and TPP related bills were passed at a November 4 session of the lower house TPP special committee by a majority vote of members of ruling parties and an opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party). The ruling bloc rammed the TPP bills through the special committee, while members of the opposition Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party had walked out of the committee meeting to express their protest against holding the committee vote without the resignation of Agricultural Minister Yuji Yamamoto, who had repeated gaffes recent weeks. The opposition parties continue to strongly protest passing … Continue reading →

The Japan Agricultural News found out on October 31 that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) had excluded information on actual selling prices of rice imported under “simultaneous buy and sell” (SBS) system, even though MAFF had gotten wholesalers’ testimonies on their selling prices set for rice users after deducting so-called “adjustment money” paid by trading houses through its latest investigation regarding shady transactions of the imported rice. At the investigation, MAFF received concrete information about selling prices of the imported rice under the SBS system from all the wholesalers that admitted their involvements in the rice transactions with kickbacks called “adjustment money.” When a report on the … Continue reading →

The special committee of the House of Representatives held two local public hearings at Sapporo city in Hokkaido prefecture and Takachiho town in Miyazaki prefecture on October 26 to ask local farmers and other stakeholders for their opinions regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact and its related bills. The farmers and experts testified at the hearings to raise their concern one after another mostly by saying “People’s understanding on TPP issues has not yet been facilitated.” And most of them commonly urged the policy makers should fully deepen their deliberation on the issues at the Diet. At the hearing held in Sapporo city, Tadaaki Yamai, secretary general of … Continue reading →