Japan, U.S. Put Off Broad TPP Accord

Tokyo, April 25 (Jiji Press)--Japan and the United States have put off a broad agreement on trade liberalization measures in bilateral talks for an envisioned Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral pact, Japanese TPP minister Akira Amari indicated Friday morning. The two countries will thus continue talks on Japanese tariffs on five key farm product categories including beef and pork, and automobile trade, both sticky areas in the bilateral talks, as they still remain wide apart over the issues. "There has been progress, but a broad accord has not been reached yet," Amari told a news conference, effectively acknowledging that the two sides have given up on achieving a broad bilateral TPP accord before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves for South Korea Friday morning after ending his three-day visit to Japan as a state guest. "We have confirmed a path (toward a breakthrough) with respect to important pending issues," Amari said. But he also said no full accord has been struck for either of the farm tariffs or auto trade. At the bilateral summit in Tokyo Thursday morning, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Obama instructed Amari and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, also visiting the Japanese capital, to continue negotiations to resolve the pending issues. Amari and Froman held discussions Thursday afternoon, followed by working-level negotiations that lasted until early Friday. But the two sides could not bridge their differences. Amari and Froman were slated to meet again Friday morning, but the meeting was not held. In the bilateral talks so far, Japan has stuck to its stance of maintaining tariffs for the five farm product categories, also including rice, while the United States has demanded that all tariffs be scrapped in principle. The gap is particularly wide over pork. The United States is urging Japan to effectively scrap its so-called gate price system that is intended to curb influx of cheap imports, while Japan is cautious about the request. In auto trade, Washington wants Tokyo to set a special quota under which U.S. automakers can export to Japan locally manufactured vehicles that meet U.S. safety and environmental standards. But Japan has rejected the proposal, saying that it cannot make concessions on the safety front. Amari and Froman have held TPP-related discussions for a total of more than 40 hours since the beginning of April. END