Two of the major players in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations are at loggerheads over tariffs on agricultural commodities.
Wheat, pork, dairy and rice groups in the United States are frustrated by Japan’s unwillingness to get rid of tariffs on five agricultural sectors.
Those sectors cover dairy, sugar, rice, beef, pork, wheat, barley and value-added products such as flour and flour mixes made from wheat and rice.
The TPP is a multilateral trade agreement involving 12 countries. When Japan joined the negotiations, it agreed to pursue an agreement that eliminates tariffs and other trade barriers in all areas.
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However, that is not happening at the negotiating table, according to several reports from the TPP ministerial meeting recently completed in Singapore.
“Japanese minister of the economy Akira Amari has now flatly told the other negotiating countries that Japan will not abolish tariffs in the five agricultural sectors considered sacred,” said a joint statement prepared by the National Association of Wheat Growers, U.S. Wheat Associates, USA Rice Federation, the National Pork Producers Council and International Dairy Foods Association.
The groups said the “broad exemption” that Japan is demanding will encourage other countries to follow suit, resulting in a weak agreement.
“U.S. negotiators still have a chance to push Japan to provide meaningful agricultural market access in the agreement,” said the commodity groups.
“Failing that, the alternative is suspending negotiations with Japan for now and concluding a truly comprehensive agreement with those TPP partners that are willing to meet the originally contemplated level of ambition.”
The Canadian Meat Council isn’t nearly as frustrated with the TPP discussions.
“We would certainly wish it would go a lot more quickly, but certainly from our perspective we’re not today talking about stopping the negotiations,” said Ron Davidson, director of government relations for the council.
“We’re still hopeful that in spite of all the bumps along the way, that these things are going to continue to progress.”
He said Japan has shown a willingness to move on tariffs for its sacred sectors in recent bilateral agreements.
“If you look at the agreements that Japan has already signed with Chile, Mexico and Australia, they have budged to some extent on beef and pork,” said Davidson.
He suggested that complete abolishment of tariffs on sensitive agricultural commodities may not be a realistic goal.
“We wanted full elimination of the tariffs with Europe, too, and we didn’t get all of that, so that’s the end objective but we’re in negotiations and we’ll see how they go.”
Davidson said there is no end in sight for the TPP negotiations.
However, Canada is also negotiating a bilateral agreement with Japan, which could be completed prior to the TPP.
“Japan, as you know, is a really important market, and we certainly would like to have an agreement with them,” he said.
Davidson said the Canadian and Japanese positions are pretty complementary for the most part, compared to Japan’s relationship with other trading partners.
“We don’t have rice. This is a big part of it,” he said.
“Maybe on a bilateral we can have a better and a stronger agreement than we do inside a TPP outcome.”
