A farm industry leader said Japan should not join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade liberalization talks despite confirmation Friday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama that the prior abolition of all tariffs is not a prerequisite.
"We are opposed to Japan's entry into the TPP negotiations under the current situation," Akira Banzai, head of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, said Saturday, after Abe and Obama's summit meeting at the White House. "The government and the ruling parties should not make a decision that leads to the abuse of our trust."
While Abe's Liberal Democratic Party administration has yet to compile an estimate of how the Pacific Rim free-trade initiative would affect the public's daily lives, "a rushed decision on TPP entry will damage the national interest," Banzai argued.