TOKYO: Japan is considering making an additional proposal for U.S. rice imports in pursuit of reaching a Pacific free trade agreement that would create one of the world’s biggest free trade zones, a source close to the matter says.
With talks ongoing since Saturday between chief negotiators from the United States, Japan and 10 other countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal in Atlanta, the two countries appear to remain at odds over rice, Japan’s heavily protected staple food.
Japan has already proposed to newly set a 70,000-ton tariff-free annual import quota for U.S. rice under the trade pact talks, but that is still far short of the 175,000 tons demanded by the United States.
Tokyo is now looking at an additional proposal of allocating 50,000 tons within an existing 770,000-ton quota for rice imports set under an earlier multilateral trade agreement to medium-grain rice, which is mainly grown by American farmers, the source said.
Japan currently imposes 778 percent tariffs on rice to protect local farmers. But following the Uruguay Round of global trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade framework through 1994, it set up a 770,000-ton tariff-free “minimum access” rice import quota. U.S. rice accounted for some 360,000 tons of the 770,000 tons in fiscal 2014.
U.S. farmers are likely to make up most of the 50,000 tons that would be allotted to medium-grain rice, which would boost American rice imports while squeezing allocations for other countries such as Thailand, China and Australia.
The suggestion came under consideration as the Japanese minister in charge of TPP negotiations prepares to attend ministerial talks from Wednesday in Atlanta.
Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari, who is in charge of the TPP talks for Japan, told reporters ahead of his departure from Narita airport that an agreement has to be reached at the meeting to keep negotiations from further dragging on. He reiterated that a final agreement could be put off for years if the talks are not concluded this time.
Some countries see a need for striking a deal ahead of the general election in Canada next month and before the national focus in the United States shifts later this year to the 2016 presidential election. Such political events will make it hard for politicians in those countries to concentrate on TPP issues, political analysts said.
Major sticking issues such as intellectual property protection, market access and automotive trade blocked ministers from wrapping up negotiations in the previous round in Hawaii in July.
The TPP negotiations were launched in 2010 involving the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Malaysia, Mexico, Canada and Japan joined the talks later.
