Takanori Okabe – Washington
Japan and the United States ended a two-day meeting under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks in Washington on Tuesday, July 15 (July 16 Japan time), agreeing to meet again early next month, Japanese officials said.
Hiroshi Oe, deputy chief TPP negotiator, said although differences remain between the two sides, he hopes the two governments will strike a deal “within several months.”
“The fog has lifted,” Oe told reporters, using a mountain-climbing analogy. “Now I can see the summit, which I once could not see.”
Meanwhile in Tokyo, TPP minister Akira Amari Tuesday expressed strong determination to settle the TPP talks within this year. In a symposium held the same day, chief TPP negotiator Koji Tsuruoka hinted the possibility of holding a ministerial meeting before the summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum scheduled in November. It is necessary for the Japanese government to bear in mind the Diet resolutions which call for the protection of key agricultural products, and avoid making compromises in the bilateral negotiations just for the sake of meeting the schedule.
Oe met Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler in the working-level negotiations, where they sought common ground based on a “formula” of measures such as safeguards and tariff phaseouts, focusing on conditions for introducing safeguards on imports of beef and pork.
Oe told reporters after the meeting that although gaps between the two nations remain wide, they are beginning to see how to narrow the gaps, not through compromising but through cooperation. According to sources close to the negotiation, they deepened understanding of each other after discussing various different conditions for introducing safeguards.
Oe said the two sides will meet again on Aug. 4 and 5 in Washington, adding that it is no use dragging on for too long. Unless the two countries settle the talks within a few months, they will not be able to reach agreement with other TPP member countries, he said.
Japan and the U.S. had difficulty holding bilateral talks due to oppositions from American agricultural lobby groups against the idea of maintaining tariffs on Japan’s key farm items to some degree. Some of the groups are stepping up their protests against Japan as the U.S. midterm congressional elections near, but sources said Cutler hardly mentioned the elections during the bilateral talks.
The two nations are scheduled to hold working-level negotiations on the auto sector between July 16 and 18.
(July 17, 2014)