Japan will decide whether to participate in negotiations for a U.S.-led Asia Pacific free trade agreement by June, the government's top spokesman said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet today endorsed a decision to begin preliminary talks with nine countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership four days before he hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The U.S. is pushing Japan and South Korea to join the negotiations as it seeks to counter China's free-trade efforts in the region.
Kan faces resistance from members of his Democratic Party of Japan to joining the negotiations because the agreement would lift tariffs in the agriculture industry, a key voting bloc. Kan and Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara have argued in favor of joining the agreement to boost trade in the world's third- largest economy.
"We intend to promote a comprehensive economic partnership and agriculture revitalization," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told reporters today in Tokyo. The decision on the TPP will be made "around" June when the government announces a new farm policy, he said.
The TPP involves the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Singapore, Chile, Vietnam, Peru, and Malaysia. Obama administration officials last year said they would urge South Korea and Japan to join the talks for what would be the largest U.S. trade accord since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
'Begin Consultations'
"Japan will begin consultations with TPP member nations while moving expeditiously to improve its domestic environment," according to a government statement released three days ago. "It is necessary to act by gathering further information."
Conflicting reports last month pointed to benefits and drawbacks for Japan. The Cabinet Office on Oct. 27 said the accord would boost gross domestic product by as much as 3.2 trillion yen ($39 billion). The agriculture ministry the same day said the size of the economy might fall by 7.9 trillion yen if tariffs on rice and 18 other farm products are lifted.
"The government couldn't make a bold decision because of a failure to make political coordination on the farm sector," said Yoko Takeda, a senior economist at Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo. "We must show strong will to join the talks by building a consensus within the government as well as among the public."
More than 60 percent of the public favors joining the talks, according to a Yomiuri newspaper survey released yesterday. The paper polled 1,052 people on Nov. 5-7 and provided no margin of error.
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