Japan to propose lifting tariffs on 85% of items under TPP, but not farm produce
Asahi Shimbun | August 19, 2013
Japan to propose lifting tariffs on 85% of items under TPP, but not farm produce
Japan plans to abolish tariffs on up to 85 percent of items in trade with potential partners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, but politically sensitive agriculture products are not included, sources said Aug. 18.
The proposal will be presented during a meeting of the 12 countries negotiating the TPP in Brunei on Aug. 22-30.
Japan, which joined TPP negotiations for the first time in July, is under pressure to open up more of its markets particularly because the United States plans to have the talks concluded by the end of the year.
A senior Foreign Ministry official said Japan could end up eliminating tariffs on more than 96 percent of the nation’s 9,018 trade items under the TPP.
Japan has abolished tariffs on about 86 percent of items under many of its 13 trade agreements, compared with 96-99 percent under U.S. trade agreements.
The percentage of items whose tariffs a country promises to eliminate is known as a trade liberalization rate. It is a key indicator of a country’s willingness to open up its markets.
Countries negotiating the TPP are discussing tariff reductions mainly in one-on-one sessions, and the trade liberalization rate may differ from one trade partner to another.
Japan’s highest rate of about 85 percent is expected to apply to a small country that does not export agricultural products to Japan, the sources said.
The 12 countries negotiating the TPP are the United States, Chile, Peru, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan.
The government’s TPP response headquarters initially planned a liberalization rate of about 75 percent, which only represents items whose tariffs Japan can promise to remove immediately.
However, Japanese officials have analyzed policies of other countries since July and learned that countries negotiating the TPP from 2010 presented higher liberalization rates than they had previously expected.
The government changed its policy and decided to include items whose tariffs Japan plans to remove in 10 years, which raised the liberalization rate to nearly 85 percent, the sources said.
Still, Japan plans to reserve decision on whether to remove tariffs on about 940 items whose tariffs have never been eliminated, the sources said. Japanese representatives are not expected to discuss these items during the meeting in Brunei.
They include 586 items of agricultural products in the “five important sectors”: rice; barley and wheat; dairy products; beef and pork; and sweetening resource crops.
These account for 6.5 percent of all Japan’s trade items.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is lobbying for maintaining tariffs on the five important sectors at any cost. And Japan hopes that protracted TPP negotiations would allow for more wiggle room for maintaining tariffs on farm produce in these sectors.
In a meeting with trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Aug. 18, however, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman reiterated the U.S. policy to have the TPP negotiations wrapped up by the end of the year. Motegi said Japan will cooperate with that schedule.
The Obama administration hopes to show tangible results of the TPP, the free-trade initiative led by Washington, before midterm elections next autumn.
The countries negotiating the TPP will likely hold a 20th meeting in late September, and a meeting of leaders from the countries is scheduled in Indonesia in early October.
Akira Amari, minister in charge of the TPP talks, said Japan’s negotiations will reach crucial stages during the meeting in Brunei and the meeting immediately after that.
(This article was written by Tomoya Fujita and Yuriko Suzuki.)
