Japan Press Weekly

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2013 December 11 - 17 [ECONOMY]

TPP ignoring each country’s economic sovereignty is unacceptable

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Countries participating in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement (TPP) have decided to carry their discussion forward to the following year. The U.S., in leading the negotiations, attempted to impose a “year-end conclusion” on other participating countries, but they failed to reach a compromise over conflicts of interest. Instead, they increased feelings of opposition to U.S. pressure.

The TPP ministerial meeting in Singapore was expected to be a venue to “politically settle” a mountain of pending issues, but it could neither see a sign of conclusion nor even come to a “partial agreement”. All it decided on was to continue to hold working-level talks and to have another ministerial meeting in January next year.

The TPP is a pact trampling on each country’s economic sovereignty under U.S. hegemony, contrary to TPP promotional slogans claiming more jobs and economic growth. The pact forces all contracting states to employ the dog-eat-dog style of competition, irrespective of differences in natural conditions and levels of economic development. The purpose of this agreement, in effect, is to ensure maximal profits for multinational corporations.

Declaring itself as a “go-between” for the U.S. and newly industrializing economies, the Abe government has supported the U.S. administration in the TPP talks. Abe’s stance indicates that Japan will promote overseas operations of large corporations in exchange for allowing the hollowing-out of domestic industries and an increase in unstable jobs.

The U.S. put pressure on Japan to lift all tariffs. Abe has argued that he would defend Japan’s national interests such as five key food categories by taking advantage of its close ties with the U.S., but his promise turned out to be impossible to honor.

Trade negotiations should respect the economic sovereignty of state parties on an equal footing. The TPP talks, however, run directly counter to this principle. No matter how long they continue with the talks, the deal will not bring about any good results for the general public. Japan should immediately decide to withdraw from such negotiations.