TOKYO: Japan may use a system set in a previous trade agreement to add up to 50,000 tons of tariff-free U.S. rice imports to the pot as the two nations seek to close the gap on rice in Trans-Pacific Partnership talks.
Japan has proposed a duty-free import quota of 70,000 tons of U.S. rice per year, with the current tariff of 341 yen ($2.81) per kilogram applied to imports over that amount. The U.S. is holding firm to demands for a quota of 175,000 tons.
While Japan is set against raising the TPP quota itself, the government is considering allocating 50,000 more tons of an existing 770,000-ton duty-free rice quota to medium-grain and other varieties of rice that the U.S. agricultural sector produces particularly well. The quota was established at the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and accounts for total rice imports from all countries worldwide.
The additional 50,000 tons would not, in theory, go exclusively to the U.S. But the country would likely account for the majority of the rice imported under the system. No alteration would be made to the 770,000-ton limit overall, effectively reducing other countries’ shares in favor of the U.S.
The two countries have already effectively agreed that Japan will cut the tariff on U.S. beef from 38.5% to 9% over 15 years. But the period over which the U.S. will remove the tariff on Japanese autos is not yet decided. The U.S. wants to maintain a tariff for as long as possible, while Japan wants the tax removed in short order.
