Category Archives: Trade Talks

【News】 Citizens’ groups protest against heavily redacted TPP documents (Apr. 14, 2016)

As deliberations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement are expected to resume in the Diet, citizens’ groups gathered in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district on Wednesday, April 13, urging the government to disclose the details of the TPP negotiations. Citizens and farmers, angered by the government which presented heavily redacted documents concerning the negotiations, stood outside the Diet building, calling for thorough debate on the issue. As many as 200 people participated in the rally hastily planned by citizens’ groups including Stop TPP!!, although the notice was released as late as Tuesday evening. They put up copies of the redacted documents along with signs and banners criticizing the government for hiding information. … Continue reading

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【News】 Democratic Party presses Government to reveal details of TPP ministerial talks between Japan and United States (April 4, 2016)

Government officials told members of the Democratic Party (DP) at DP’s meeting held on March 29 that all of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial talks between Japan and the United States had proceeded without recording those talks in any form of minutes. According to the Japanese Government’s TPP Headquarters at the Cabinet Secretariat Office, the two governments could have found it more difficult for them to exchange free-handed views to find out a solution for concluding the trade talks, if negotiators’ remarks were recorded in the minutes and they tried to obtain partner’s pledge in those minutes of previous meetings. The governmental officials also told the DP lawmakers that the … Continue reading

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【News】 Anti-TPP groups demonstrate around Diet Building urging “TPP ratification does not have any justice” (March 31, 2016)

More than 700 demonstrators of farmers, consumers, representatives of citizen’s groups, and lawyers came from various parts of Japan to gather around the Diet Building at Nagata-cho, Tokyo on March 30 and held a rally and a demonstration for preventing the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact, before lawmakers begin extensive deliberations at the Diet on approvals of the TPP accord and related bills. Members of 66 groups including nonprofit organizations, trade unions, farmers, and medical institutions joined the rally. The participants in the rally, flying flags and holding message boards, protested against the TPP and formed a line of more than 100 meters in front of … Continue reading

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【Opinion】 No rush to ratify Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (March 29, 2016)

Yoichi Tashiro, professor of agricultural economics at Otsuma Women’s University The Diet is set to begin debates on a bill to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement and related bills. Prior to the upcoming deliberations, Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate economist of Columbia University who was invited to Tokyo by the Japanese government, advised Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay a sales tax increase scheduled for next year. Abe apparently invited Stiglitz to obtain support for his intention to postpone the tax hike to ensure victory in the elections – the essential part of his syllogistic strategy of ratifying the TPP deal to realize Abenomics policies to win majority seats in … Continue reading

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【News】 Japanese farmers forced to face further liberalization in TPP framework (Feb. 5, 2016)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement was signed by twelve countries including Japan at a ceremony held in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 4. All the provisions in the text of the TPP pact have been finalized. TPP member countries are now required to take necessary steps to promote domestic procedures. The Government of Japan plans to submit to the current Diet session a bid for ratification of the TPP agreement and TPP-related bills in order to prepare for an early implementation of the agreement. Japan has made a commitment to the United States of America and other partners to drastically reduce import tariffs on key products including beef … Continue reading

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