A senior U.S. trade official told Japanese agriculture officials last week that Washington would allow no exceptions to removing tariffs under the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade framework, one of the Japanese officials said Tuesday.
Shigeo Fuji, senior executive director of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives, said he and other officials of the national federation of farm cooperatives, including President Akira Banzai, met with Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler during their Jan. 16-18 trip to the U.S. and Canada to discuss the TPP negotiations.
According to Fuji, Cutler said the U.S. realizes Japan has sensitive agricultural items. Cutler also said that for such items as rice, it would be possible to consider removing tariffs in a phased manner over a long period, or to introduce a system allowing restrictions to be imposed if imports soar drastically.