Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 8 - 14 [POLITICS]

Japan holds preliminary talks with US to join TPP, harming public interest

In the first preliminary talks held on February 7 between the Japanese and U.S. governments on Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Japan said that it will put all items on the negotiating table.

The TPP pact is based on the principle of unexceptional elimination of tariffs.

The U.S. government has collected opinions from business organizations and corporations concerning Japan’s participation in the TPP free-trade pact. These opinions include calls for deregulation of food additives and residual agricultural chemicals, abolition of import restrictions on U.S. beef, and relaxation of customs procedures, all of which will seriously threaten the safety of food.

What is more, U.S. business organizations are calling for a system in which the U.S. government can sue the Japanese government to protect U.S. investors and to increase U.S. car exports to bail out the U.S. car industry.

An agreement to maintain secrecy concerning all inter-governmental consultations over the TPP binds the TPP negotiations. The public has no way of knowing the content of the consultations that are going on between the governments.

A spokesperson for the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) said that if Japan enters the TPP and agricultural production decreases, “Japan will have to depend more on imports for its supply of food which will tighten the international supply and demand for food and make food prices soar.” If Japan imports a large quantity of rice, the current number of 925 million people suffering from hunger in the world is likely to increase by another 270 million in Asia alone.