Representatives of the Japanese farming industry told their American counterparts in Washington on Tuesday, October 15, that they believe the Japanese government will protect key agricultural products from tariff elimination, while the farmers’ groups in the United States called for tariff cuts without exception under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks.
The delegation of the Japan Agricultural Co-operatives (JA) group, led by Akira Banzai, head of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu), met with leaders of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), National Farmers Union representing family farms and the National Corn Growers Association.
In a meeting with NPPC Vice President Nick Giordano, Banzai said he is convinced that the Japanese government will realize the resolutions adopted by the Diet and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party which include exemption of five key agricultural products from tariff abolishment. In response, Giordano stressed the council is urging U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress that any tariff should be abolished.
Banzai (the 4th from the left) exchanges the opinion with NPPC in Washington on Tuesday, October.
In a meeting with National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson, Yoshimi Nakano, chairman of the National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations (JA Zen-noh), asked how the U.S. public reacted to the joint statement issued by the union and JA-Zenchu in June. The joint statement urged TPP negotiators to treat agriculture differently from other economic sectors in a trade agreement, adding that both countries have sensitive agricultural products that must be protected. Johnson said that many people took the statement for granted.
The National Corn Growers Association in the U.S. has stated that reducing and cutting tariffs would facilitate deregulation of Japanese agriculture and contribute to increasing Japan’s exports of food products. In a meeting with John Doggett, vice president of the association, Kazuo Kimura, chairman of JA-Zenchu’s commission on rice farming, said that Japan is dependent on imported feed, and if Japanese dairy farmers and stock raising farmers suffer damage by tariff cuts, it would have an adverse effect on U.S. grain exports.
Other members of the delegation include Toshihiro Sonoda, President of Ie-No-Hikari Association, Toshiomi Yamada, chairman of the national federation of agricultural policy campaign organizations, the political arm of JA, and JA-Zenchu director Toshihiko Baba.
(Oct. 17, 2013)