Japan Joins TPP Negotiations as Lawmakers Express Concern Over Country's Restrictive Auto Trade
Japan will join Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, the country's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced March 15, joining 11 other countries currently in the midst of negotiations and hoping to seal a deal by October. The sixteenth round of TPP talks ended March 13 13031401. The announcement comes a day after a group of 50 Senators and Representatives sent a letter (here) to President Obama saying that the TPP should address Japan’s “significant, long-standing, and persistent economic barriers put in place to block our exports and support theirs. The letter specifically mentions Japan’s policies in the auto sector, which have been “carefully honed ... to keep out American and other foreign cars and parts.”
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The letter -- whose signees include House Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich. -- calls the Japanese auto market “impenetrable” and names Japan the second-largest source of the U.S. trade imbalance after China. In 2012, automotive products accounted for more than two-thirds of the deficit, the letter said. In a statement, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., also expressed concern about auto export barriers. His support of Japan’s entry into TPP hinges on the country committing to resolving outstanding trade barriers. “Once we get this commitment from Japan, I look forward to continuing consultations with the Administration with respect to Japan’s participation in the negotiation of a comprehensive and ambitious agreement that addresses tariff and non-tariff barriers in all areas, including agriculture,” Camp said.
Trade Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., called the announcement “welcome and encouraging,” but also cautioned that Japan should be “fully prepared to join an ambitious, comprehensive, high standards agreement,” and should not delay the October deadline. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported the announcement. "If Japan is ready to engage in the negotiations on the same terms as the other participants and ongoing consultations yield progress on outstanding concerns with the U.S., then its goal of becoming a TPP partner should be considered favorably,” Chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue said in a statement (here).
Email ITTnews@warren-news.com for a copy of the Representatives’ statement.