No Progress in U.S.-Japan Talks on TPP Agriculture, Auto Issues
U.S. and Japanese negotiators failed to make any progress in Trans-Pacific Partnership market access and non-tariff barrier talks during two days of meetings, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a Sept. 24 statement. USTR Michael Froman and…
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Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari, along with their teams, met from Sept. 23-24, but the two sides “were unable to make further progress on the key outstanding issues,” said USTR, saying the focus was on agriculture and autos. In the days before those Sept. 23-24 talks, however, “constructive” mid-level negotiations did take place, the statement added. “Both sides will consider next steps following consultations in both capitals,” it said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sept. 23 said Japan made a proposal to the U.S. that included more agricultural market liberalization (see 14092418). The U.S. and Japan have battled for months over Japanese tariffs on rice, beef and pork, wheat, dairy and sugar imports in TPP (see 14091028). "I had hoped [Japan's new proposal] would lead [negotiations] to the next stage, but there was a gap in our discussions," Amari told Japanese reporters after the talks (here).