The 18th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks, with Japan on board for the first time, ended with member countries agreeing to accelerate discussions in such areas as market access including tariffs. As was expected, the negotiations were kept strictly confidential. All the Japanese government could do was to make a debut and gather information on the talks, without being able to put forward concrete policy proposals. Let us make one thing clear. There is no reason for Japan to join the agreement which leads to deterioration of this country, placing priority on the interests of global enterprises and ignoring the will of the people. There is no room for negotiation in this comprehensive initiative led by the United States to force members to eliminate tariffs on all items in principle and take deregulatory measures. We demand the government to immediately withdraw from the talks.
Just as we had feared, the information leaked piecemeal revealed the unparalleled level of secrecy of the negotiations and unexceptionally high level of market liberalization they demand. Japan officially joined the TPP negotiations in the afternoon of Tuesday, July 23, near the end of the Malaysia round. Japanese negotiators were first asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, and then allowed access to the enormous amount of negotiation texts. A delegation of roughly 100 Japanese government officials set on analyzing the documents on 21 fields, but challenges to make the government disclose information are likely to be hindered by a thick curtain of confidentiality.
On Wednesday, July 24, and Thursday, July 25, the “Japan session” was held to familiarize Japan, which is a latecomer, with the principles and the state of play in the negotiations, and to ask the Japanese government to cooperate on making progress in the talks. Three years have already passed after the negotiations started, and the TPP members have proceeded with the discussion under the agreement confirmed in November 2011 to realize the goal of achieving a high level of market liberalization by eliminating tariffs and other barriers to services trade and investment.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said at a House of Representatives hearing that there were no upfront exclusions of individual Japanese sectors, including the agricultural sector, when the U.S. agreed to Japan’s entry into the negotiations. Froman did not forget to remind Japan of the TPP’s basic principle that all items are subject to tariff elimination. On the other hand, Japanese negotiators went only as far as stating its basic policy. It is their responsibility to at least present specific positions to protect the national interests, including five key agricultural products, food safety and security, labor market and medical services, based on the resolutions adopted by both houses of the Diet. They must participate in the negotiations with a strong determination to withdraw from the talks if they cannot maintain the national interests.
The participants of the Malaysia round of TPP talks confirmed that they will step up efforts to conclude the talks by the end of this year as agreed by the leaders. They plan to hold the next round of the talks in Brunei later next month. The earlier-than-expected scheduling of the negotiations indicates the slow progress in discussions, especially in the areas of market access involving tariffs, intellectual property concerning patents and copyright protection, government procurement regarding foreign firms’ bidding for public works projects, rules of origin for textiles and apparel products, as well as the areas of environment concerning fisheries subsidies and investment involving a clause on the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. Various conflicts of interest remain among the participants, making it more difficult for them to reach agreement by the year end. But this does not necessarily mean that there is room for Japan to negotiate. Japan has negotiated with the U.S. on a bilateral basis in such areas as autos and insurance services, and there is a high possibility that the U.S. will ask Japan in the bilateral negotiations to eliminate tariffs on key items.
The TPP initiative is a rule-making process led by the U.S. in favor of global enterprises. Defensive and offensive tactics used in usual negotiations would not work under this framework. The prospects of bilateral negotiations between Japan and the U.S., which are closely related with the TPP talks, also remain unclear. From the viewpoint of truly protecting the national interests, we believe the best way for the government to take is to immediately withdraw from the TPP negotiations.
(July 27, 2013)