October 10, 2019
Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira in his interpellation at the House of Councilors plenary session on October 9 criticized PM Abe for reaching a final trade agreement with the United States.
Referring to Abe's statement boasting that he achieved win-win results in the trade deal, Koike said, "Where did your 'win-win' perception come up from?"
Koike said, "Diet approval of the Japan-U.S. trade deal is absolutely unacceptable as it will destroy Japan's sovereignty over agriculture and the overall economy," demanding the cancellation of the start of negotiations on a Japan-U.S. trade deal.
PM Abe on September 25 signed a joint statement in regard to a bilateral trade accord which will make Japan surrender its economic sovereignty to the U.S. and enter into FTA talks. One-sidedly accepting numerous concessions to the demands from U.S. President Trump, Abe promised to substantially reduce tariffs on U.S. meat products such as pork. On the other hand, cuts in tariffs on Japanese automobiles and auto components were postponed.
Citing this fact, Koike said, "This is President Trump's one-sided 'win', not the 'win-win' claimed by PM Abe."
Koike took up survey results which appeared in Japan's agricultural daily Japan Agriculture Times on October 4. He said that according to the survey, 66% of respondents see that Japan-U.S. trade negotiations "have ended up favoring the U.S." while only 1% said "favoring Japan".
PM Abe, without presenting any data regarding the impact on Japanese agriculture due to the bilateral trade deal, kept saying that the deal "will bring benefits to all the people".
Koike argued that the government should have presented estimates of the impact on Japanese agriculture to the Diet. Abe replied, "I will provide necessary information as soon as possible."
Past related article:
> Shii issues statement regarding agreement in Japan-US trade talks [September 27, 2019]
Referring to Abe's statement boasting that he achieved win-win results in the trade deal, Koike said, "Where did your 'win-win' perception come up from?"
Koike said, "Diet approval of the Japan-U.S. trade deal is absolutely unacceptable as it will destroy Japan's sovereignty over agriculture and the overall economy," demanding the cancellation of the start of negotiations on a Japan-U.S. trade deal.
PM Abe on September 25 signed a joint statement in regard to a bilateral trade accord which will make Japan surrender its economic sovereignty to the U.S. and enter into FTA talks. One-sidedly accepting numerous concessions to the demands from U.S. President Trump, Abe promised to substantially reduce tariffs on U.S. meat products such as pork. On the other hand, cuts in tariffs on Japanese automobiles and auto components were postponed.
Citing this fact, Koike said, "This is President Trump's one-sided 'win', not the 'win-win' claimed by PM Abe."
Koike took up survey results which appeared in Japan's agricultural daily Japan Agriculture Times on October 4. He said that according to the survey, 66% of respondents see that Japan-U.S. trade negotiations "have ended up favoring the U.S." while only 1% said "favoring Japan".
PM Abe, without presenting any data regarding the impact on Japanese agriculture due to the bilateral trade deal, kept saying that the deal "will bring benefits to all the people".
Koike argued that the government should have presented estimates of the impact on Japanese agriculture to the Diet. Abe replied, "I will provide necessary information as soon as possible."
Past related article:
> Shii issues statement regarding agreement in Japan-US trade talks [September 27, 2019]
