The National Pork Producers Council is calling for TPP trade talks to stop waiting for Japan to comply. Sabrina Hill has more.
Pork Producers: Move On Without Japan
The National Pork Producers Council says it’s time for the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations to go on without Japan, due to that’s country’s failure to move on some issues. Nick Giodano with the pork producer’s council comments.
According to reports from the recent TPP trade ministerial meeting in Singapore, Japanese Minister of the Economy Akira Amari said Japan will not abolish tariffs in the agricultural sectors it considers “sacred” – dairy, sugar, rice, beef, pork, wheat and barley.
Japan is demanding special treatment for its agricultural sector, including exempting pork and other “sensitive” products from tariff elimination. The United States never has agreed to let a trading partner exempt as many tariff lines as Japan is requesting – 586. In fact, in the 17 free trade agreements the United States has concluded since 2000, only 233 tariff lines combined have been exempted from having tariff elimination.
For more, see Agriculture Groups Urge TPP Deal Without Japan. →