Starting this month, the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives will send a delegation to member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks to exchange opinions and information with government officials and industrial associations. JA group members will visit four countries, including Canada and the United States, by November. JA will also cooperate with a group of anti-TPP professors in Japan to present issues of concern regarding the TPP negotiations. The U.S.-led negotiations are expected to speed up this autumn as the members aim at reaching agreement by the year end. Now is the time for JA to put forth its clear stance against the TPP agreement at home and abroad, and cooperate with other groups internationally to appeal to the governments of TPP participants.
The TPP negotiations apparently entered a new phase in its 19th round of talks held in Brunei in late August. The participating countries held a ministerial meeting and issued a joint statement expressing commitment to help drive the negotiations to conclusion by the end of this year. The statement also said the leaders of the TPP members will meet when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting is held in Indonesia in early October.
In the Brunei round, the participants held discussions on 10 areas including market access for goods which deals with tariffs on agricultural products, as well as intellectual property and government procurement. The 12 member nations jointly issued a statement to confirm that the summit meeting will be an important milestone, and have agreed to hold more inter-sessional working-level talks in the coming weeks.
The latest round of talks revealed the U.S. government’s eagerness to reach agreement and the Japanese government’s stance of toeing the U.S. line. The TPP negotiations have entered a very dangerous phase of proceeding secretively, ignoring voices against the TPP in each country and without disclosing information to the people of each country.
During the Brunei round of talks, stakeholders of participating countries, including Japan’s Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu), were also in Brunei. JA-Zenchu officials exchanged opinions with agricultural associations in Canada, the U.S. and Australia, the major exporters of agricultural products. Although JA-Zenchu did not share the same opinion with Australia’s National Farmers’ Federation which hopes to increase Japan-bound exports, it agreed to cooperate with the Dairy Farmers of Canada and the American Sugar Alliance to oppose tariff cuts on key agricultural products.
Negotiations on the area of market access will be held mainly on a bilateral basis, and Japan plans to hold bilateral talks with the U.S. and Australia from the middle of this month. Since stakeholders largely influence negotiators of the TPP participating countries including the U.S., it is significant for JA to exchange views with agricultural associations in other countries and work together with them to oppose tariff cuts.
Meanwhile, anti-TPP movements are expanding in Japan as well. A group of anti-TPP professors, a lawyers’ network opposing the TPP agreement and the Housewives’ Federation will jointly hold a symposium in Tokyo on Saturday, September 14, to address issues of concern regarding the TPP initiative, and JA-Zenchu will send a panelist. A citizens’ group to consider the TPP talks will hold a meeting in Tokyo on Saturday, September 21.
As the TPP negotiations approach the crucial stage in October, JA’s diplomacy abroad and national anti-TPP movement at home become more important than ever. We strongly hope JA will play a major role in raising the anti-TPP movements from a grassroots level to global cooperation.
(Sept. 6, 2013)