Office of the United States Trade Representative notified Congress of its intent to allow Japan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks. USTR, however, emphasized the point that Japan promised it will subject all goods – including agricultural products — to negotiation. There is no guarantee at all on whether Japan can protect key agricultural products from tariff elimination. The U.S. also demanded that Japan address non-tariff measures such as food safety regulations in parallel with the TPP negotiations. The Japanese government should withdraw from the negotiations if it cannot protect the Japanese people’s lives and the rural community.
In its notification letter to Congress, USTR stressed that Japan “has confirmed that it will subject all goods to negotiation -– both agricultural and manufactured goods –- and will join other TPP countries to achieve a high-standard and comprehensive agreement this year.” It does not mention that Japan considers certain agricultural products as trade sensitivities, the recognition written in the joint statement issued after a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama held in February. Wendy Cutler, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Affairs, who met a group of Japanese anti-TPP lawmakers visiting the U.S. on Wednesday, April 24, clearly indicated that the U.S. government does not intend to accept exemption of certain products from tariff elimination, stating as alternatives phased reduction of tariffs over a long period of time and safeguards –- emergency import restriction. The agriculture, forestry and fisheries committees of the Liberal Democratic Party and the upper and lower houses of the Diet all adopted resolutions calling on the government to assert that tariffs on key agricultural products should be exempted from elimination or be separately renegotiated. Measures such as phased reduction of tariffs over a long period of time, as suggested by Cutler, go against the resolutions and are totally unacceptable.
The Abe administration made concessions over concessions in the preceding bilateral negotiations between Japan and the U.S. Japan managed to include in the Japan-U.S. joint statement the point that certain agricultural products are considered sensitivities for the country, but the U.S. in turn demanded that the two governments negotiate on non-tariff measures in automotive and other sectors. In addition, in the joint statement issued on Friday, April 12, after the two countries reached agreement in the preliminary talks, Japan was driven into allowing U.S. tariffs on imports of Japanese motor vehicles to be “back loaded” to the maximum extent. The supplemental fact sheet concerning non-tariff measures even stated that additional issues may be added during the course of bilateral negotiations if agreed upon by both governments. On the other hand, no progress has been made on the treatment of key agricultural products, the focus of interest for Japan, after the joint statement was issued in February.
Abe has been insisting since before last year’s Lower House election that the Japanese government must have a “strong negotiating power,” but in fact the government made various concessions in a frantic effort to join the TPP negotiations by July. It has taken the most immature strategy of setting a deadline for itself in the beginning. USTR’s notification letter to Congress is an evidence of how precipitantly Japan has proceeded with the negotiations so far.
The Liberal Democratic Party issued a 10-year strategy to double the income of Japan’s agricultural sector. The strategy, which serves as the LDP’s campaign platform for the Upper House election in July, states that it will work to double the incomes of farmers and their communities. If Japan is forced to eliminate tariffs on agricultural products including the five key products in the TPP negotiations, however, the strategy will be thoroughly overturned. Protecting the tariffs on the five key products should be a prerequisite to realizing the goal set in the plan. This means the LDP has made a double promise — the strategy and the resolution concerning the TPP — to farmers to secure the tariffs on agricultural products. We have heard too much of groundless slogans. The government and the ruling party should be responsible for making utmost efforts to keep their promise.
(April 27, 2013)