Japan is arranging one-on-one meetings with the 10 other countries, apart from the United States, involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks on the sidelines of the next negotiations session later this month, a government source said.
The government is prepared to present lists of items for which it could eliminate tariffs, and they will not include five sensitive farm products that Japan intends to keep protecting, the source said Tuesday.
Those products are beef and pork, rice, wheat, dairy and sugar. Cabinet ministers involved in the TPP talks are set to endorse the strategy for tariff negotiations Thursday.