The members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks are speeding up their negotiations. As working group sessions on eliminating and reducing tariffs began on Friday, September 20, farmers nationwide are worriedly watching how the negotiations will proceed. The political sector of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) held a meeting on Thursday, September 19, with many Diet members present, and confirmed that the Japanese government’s negotiating position should be based on the resolutions adopted by the agricultural committees of the lower and upper houses of the Diet, which calls for retaining tariffs on the five key agricultural products. The government must cut off its retreat in negotiating to protect the key items from tariff elimination.
We have concerns over the fact that the whole scheme of the TPP pact is centered on abolishing tariffs and is led by the United States which strongly urges other countries to revise trade rules in line with the U.S. rules. The whole schedule of the TPP negotiations is set by taking into consideration the midterm elections of the U.S. Congress expected in November next year. Japan will definitely lose its national interests if it makes hasty judgments by following U.S. intentions. Since gaining control of both chambers of Congress is crucial for U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, presenting visible results to the U.S. public in foreign policies is an absolute must to turn people’s eyes away from the failure in the administration’s Syria strategy. There is no better way for Obama to do so than concluding the TPP pact.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman recently revealed the U.S. intentions in its trade policies he presented to media based in Geneva, where the headquarters of the World Trade Organization is located. He clearly stated that the U.S. trade policies, including its negotiations with the European Union, will become the world’s de facto standard. His remarks reflect the U.S. determination to make the world dominated by neoliberalism. This is totally unacceptable. This is an apparent act of defiance toward the WTO, which has been promoting trade negotiations on a global basis. International rule-making should be conducted under the framework of the WTO, where fairness and transparency are assured. The TPP pact is merely a regional free trade agreement which complements the WTO.
The TPP pact is nothing but an absurd agreement which endangers people’s lives. That is why Japan had been cautious about joining the talks, and why many citizens’ groups and other organizations are still having concerns over them. The Japanese government should face up to this reality. The resolutions adopted by the Diet committees demanded that the TPP pact should be fundamentally reviewed in order to protect the five key agricultural products, as well as food safety and national interests as a whole. It is perfectly reasonable for the resolutions to state that the government should withdraw from the negotiations if their principles cannot be maintained.
In the two weeks before the TPP summit meeting scheduled on Tuesday, October 8, the focus will be placed on how the TPP member countries will negotiate on specific areas with the aim of reaching a broad agreement. Negotiators are holding working sessions one after another. As for the issue of tariffs, the Japanese government’s biggest challenge lies in the bilateral session with the U.S. The two countries exchanged a list of tariff-free item proposals for the first time, and Japan is on the verge of whether it can protect the Diet resolutions, including maintaining tariffs on the key agricultural products.
Trust is what matters in politics. Without trust, a government cannot stand. A Diet resolution is a declaration of intention by the highest organ of state power. In this sense, the JA’s political sector played a significant role in that it confirmed with Diet members the need for the government to go along with the Diet resolutions in the TPP negotiations.
(Sept. 20, 2013)