Koya Nishikawa, head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s panel on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, said Monday, October 21, that the party does not plan to announce the results of examining effects of cutting tariffs until the talks are concluded.
In a BS Fuji television program, Nishikawa said the party does not want to show Japan’s hands to the United States, as the TPP negotiations are expected to speed up towards the goal of striking a deal in the end of this year. But it is highly likely that farmers will be concerned over the confidentiality of the process all the more.
Nishikawa said he will report the results to LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, but will not publicly disclose the results nor which Diet members are involved in the examination.
After appearing on TV, Nishikawa told reporters that the party plans to conduct the examination by mid-November, but added that it will not announce the conclusion of the examination.
He also said that it is the government which will make the final decision on whether to cut tariffs based on the party’s examination.
In the TV program, Nishikawa stressed that the examination will not be conducted on the presumption that the tariffs on certain agricultural products will be abolished.
He said that the party will examine whether there are items whose tariffs were eliminated in the existing free trade agreements, such as egg pulp, which need to be protected under the TPP pact. He also said that besides 586 items under the five key agricultural products – rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar, the party will examine whether there are other sensitive products among 834 items whose tariffs were never eliminated. There are many other items besides 586 items which should be protected, and the party must make them clear, he said.
(Oct. 23, 2013)