The United States is demanding that Japan set a yearly import target for American cars in the bilateral negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, it was learned Sunday.
Sources close to the negotiations disclosed that the U.S. wants to introduce a system that would allow it to delay phase out of tariffs on Japanese automobiles by the number of years in which Japanese imports of U.S. autos fall below the target.
This means unless Japan continues to import certain amount of U.S.-made automobiles every year, U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars will be maintained almost indefinitely.
According to the sources, Japan has strongly rejected such requests, saying it cannot possibly accept such a measure because it is effectively equal to retaining U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars.
It also goes against the Liberal Democratic Party’s policy of refusing setting numerical targets on imports of manufactured goods such as automobiles, the sources said.
Last April, the two governments agreed on abolishing U.S. tariffs on Japanese automobiles – 2.5 percent on passenger cars – but in the following negotiations, the U.S. side proposed setting an extremely long phase out period of 30 years or more.
The U.S. has also been asking Japan to relax its safety standards for automobiles and continues to take a hard line stance regarding automotive trade as well as tariffs on agricultural products, making the negotiations deadlocked.
(April 21, 2014)