Category Archives: Trade Talks

【Editor’s column】 Now it’s the lawmakers’ turn (Oct. 7, 2015)

  Editor in Chief, Kazushiro Tamiya Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, member nations are supposed to liberalize 95 percent of the tariff lines. Japan will not be able to achieve this target unless it liberalizes a part of the five key farm items. In addition to this, the government will largely reduce tariffs, including cutting import duty on beef to 9 percent over 15 years, establish special import quotas for rice and dairy products and abolish tariffs on other items, all of which represent unprecedented levels of market liberalization. The deal poses a great risk of considerably weakening the nation’s foundation for agricultural production and food security. If you compare the … Continue reading

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【News】 Government to set Cabinet task force to minimize negative effects of TPP deal: Abe (Oct. 7, 2015)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday, Oct. 6, that the government will create a task force to tackle any negative impact on domestic industries from a possible surge in agricultural imports, following the agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade scheme reached the previous day. The task force, which will include all Cabinet members, will be launched after Akira Amari, minister in charge of the talks, returns from Atlanta where the TPP member nations held a ministerial meeting. It aims to come up with a package of measures to deal with the issue before the government submits a bill to approve the TPP deal to the Diet. “The whole government will … Continue reading

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【Focus】 Bumpy road ahead for domestic agriculture industry (Oct. 7, 2015)

  TPP agreement: five key items Takanori Okabe, Satomi Tamai and Hayato Niki – Atlanta Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, Japan accepted large cuts in tariffs and establishment of new import quotas for some of the sensitive agricultural products such as rice and beef. The government has negotiated with the aim of avoiding sharp increases in imports through maintaining government-controlled trading systems and introducing safeguard measures. However, it is unclear whether they are effective enough to prevent damage to the domestic farm industry. Here are what Japan has agreed upon under the TPP talks concerning the five key agricultural items. <Rice> Tariff-free quotas set for U.S. and Australia Rice … Continue reading

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【News】 Beef, pork tariffs to be cut and low-tariff import quota to be set for dairy products and wheat; highlights of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal (Oct. 6, 2015)

  Takanori Okabe, Satomi Tamai and Hayato Niki – Atlanta Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, which was reached on Monday, Oct. 5, Japan will establish new rice import quotas for the United States and Australia, while largely cutting beef and pork tariffs and the markup – an effective tariff – on wheat imports, it was learned the same day. Japan will also create low-tariff import quotas for powdered skim milk and butter, and increase imports of sugar products. Regarding rice, Japan will set up new tax-free import quotas at 50,000 tons for the U.S. and 6,000 tons for Australia, which will be expanded to 70,000 tons and 8,400 tons, … Continue reading

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【News】 Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks reach broad agreement (Oct. 6, 2015)

  Takanori Okabe, Satomi Tamai and Hayato Niki – Atlanta The 12 member nations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks reached a landmark agreement at a ministerial meeting held in Atlanta on Monday, Oct. 5, which represents a major turning point for Japan’s agriculture in the years to come. As for the most controversial issue of rice, Japan has agreed to establish new import quotas for the United States and Australia totaling 78,400 tons. Under the agreement, Japan will have to further open its markets for other farm products as well. The agreement was reached Monday after marathon negotiating sessions in Atlanta through the weekend over such thorny issues as … Continue reading

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