United States welcomes Japan to TPP and bilateral trade negotiations
April 12, 2013 | 06:15 PM
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced today that the United States has completed bilateral consultations with Japan regarding Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiation, and that the United States is planning on participating in both TPP and bilateral negotiations with Japan.
Demetrios Marantis
“The United States and Japan have successfully completed these consultations by concluding a robust package of actions and agreements with Japan in the automotive and insurance sectors, as well as other non-tariff measures,” acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said in a statement.
“As a result, we are pleased to welcome Japan’s participation in the TPP negotiations pending a consensus agreement among the current TPP members and the completion of our respective domestic processes,” Marantis said. “Japan’s entry into this important initiative for the Asia-Pacific region will help it to deliver significant economic benefits to the United States, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.”
Nontariff barriers including those affecting farmers will be negotiated bilaterally, in parallel to the TPP negotiations, and addressed by the conclusion of the TPP negotiations between the two countries, USTR said. They will include sanitary and phytosanitary measures including risk assessments related to common food additives, and address other issues related to fungicides and gelatin/collagen for human consumption.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called the announcement “encouraging news.”
“By accepting more U.S. beef exports, Japan showed it is willing to take the kind of steps this agreement requires,” Baucus said in a statement.
“We will set a high bar moving forward and work closely with the administration to ensure the TPP works for American businesses, ranchers, farmers and workers.”
Bob Stallman
The American Farm Bureau Federation praised the U.S. decision to approve Japan as a negotiating partner.
“As the fourth-largest U.S. agricultural export market, with nearly $14 billion in purchases in 2012, trade with Japan is important to America’s farmers and rancher,” Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said in a statement.
“The recent decision by Japan to increase access for U.S. beef shows that Japan can act to improve market access for U.S. agricultural products based on sound science,” Stallman said. “A comprehensive TPP agreement that includes Japan will strengthen trade relationships, address remaining barriers and improve the competitiveness of the Asia/Pacific market.”
The USA Rice Federation also praised the decision, but said, “commercially meaningful improvements in access for U.S. rice must be a result of Japan’s entry into the TPP negotiations.”
Randy Spronk
The National Pork Producers Council also welcomed the news.
“The addition of Japan to the negotiations will exponentially increase the importance of the TPP to pork producers and to other sectors of the U.S. economy,” NPPC President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerto, Minn., said in a statement.
“Japan’s entry into the trade talks will spur interest in the TPP among other countries in Asia and Latin America, and it will signal to other nations that efforts to negotiate more open and transparent trading arrangements will continue, even as multilateral efforts to do so are stymied,” Spronk said.
“With Japan in it, TPP is the single most important trade negotiation ever for U.S. pork and many other U.S. agricultural products,” he said. “We estimate that a South Korea-Colombia-type outcome for U.S. pork in the TPP negotiation — meaning the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers — will create 27,000 direct and indirect pork industry jobs in the United States.”
“The United States and Japan have successfully completed these consultations by concluding a robust package of actions and agreements with Japan in the automotive and insurance sectors, as well as other non-tariff measures,” acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said in a statement.
“As a result, we are pleased to welcome Japan’s participation in the TPP negotiations pending a consensus agreement among the current TPP members and the completion of our respective domestic processes,” Marantis said. “Japan’s entry into this important initiative for the Asia-Pacific region will help it to deliver significant economic benefits to the United States, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.”
Nontariff barriers including those affecting farmers will be negotiated bilaterally, in parallel to the TPP negotiations, and addressed by the conclusion of the TPP negotiations between the two countries, USTR said. They will include sanitary and phytosanitary measures including risk assessments related to common food additives, and address other issues related to fungicides and gelatin/collagen for human consumption.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called the announcement “encouraging news.”
“By accepting more U.S. beef exports, Japan showed it is willing to take the kind of steps this agreement requires,” Baucus said in a statement.
“We will set a high bar moving forward and work closely with the administration to ensure the TPP works for American businesses, ranchers, farmers and workers.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation praised the U.S. decision to approve Japan as a negotiating partner.
“As the fourth-largest U.S. agricultural export market, with nearly $14 billion in purchases in 2012, trade with Japan is important to America’s farmers and rancher,” Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said in a statement.
“The recent decision by Japan to increase access for U.S. beef shows that Japan can act to improve market access for U.S. agricultural products based on sound science,” Stallman said. “A comprehensive TPP agreement that includes Japan will strengthen trade relationships, address remaining barriers and improve the competitiveness of the Asia/Pacific market.”
The USA Rice Federation also praised the decision, but said, “commercially meaningful improvements in access for U.S. rice must be a result of Japan’s entry into the TPP negotiations.”
The National Pork Producers Council also welcomed the news.
“The addition of Japan to the negotiations will exponentially increase the importance of the TPP to pork producers and to other sectors of the U.S. economy,” NPPC President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerto, Minn., said in a statement.
“Japan’s entry into the trade talks will spur interest in the TPP among other countries in Asia and Latin America, and it will signal to other nations that efforts to negotiate more open and transparent trading arrangements will continue, even as multilateral efforts to do so are stymied,” Spronk said.
“With Japan in it, TPP is the single most important trade negotiation ever for U.S. pork and many other U.S. agricultural products,” he said. “We estimate that a South Korea-Colombia-type outcome for U.S. pork in the TPP negotiation — meaning the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers — will create 27,000 direct and indirect pork industry jobs in the United States.”
