Banyan | The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Food fight

Neither the Japanese nor the Americans come out smelling sweet

By T.B. | TOKYO

THE MOOD across the table between Japanese and American negotiators on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement, deteriorated sharply late last month: the Japanese side stormed out of talks in Washington, DC. Now the hostilities are continuing in the press. This week Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s chief negotiator on the TPP, blasted the media in general, which, he said, pays far too much attention to American spin doctors when reporting on the trade agreement, negotiations for which are conducted in secret.

One prominent example is the Wall Street Journal, which recently reported on the dramatic failure of the talks between Japan and the United States. The American newspaper reported that the Japanese, adding insult to injury, had left behind some 40 sandwiches that the American negotiators had prepared for them. But “There were no sandwiches in the room”, counters Mr Tsuruoka. The Americans perhaps had sandwiches hidden away somewhere in reserve, he supposes, as a reward. “That’s the U.S. way”.

Thus far, sandwiches or no sandwiches, Japan has shouldered most of the blame in the media for the breakdown of the talks. Its agriculture is protected by high tariffs—the tariff on butter, for instance, is 360%—since farmers wield political clout (and the Japanese, presumably, prefer sushi to sarnies). It has been pummelled for insisting on protecting five “sacred” areas of agriculture—rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy and sugar. The talks in Washington reportedly broke down over Japan’s demand for so-called “safeguards” for its beef, which would have reinstalled tariffs if Japanese consumers were to opt en masse for foreign meat. In turn, Japan accuses the American side of suddenly rescinding an offer to eliminate its tariffs on car parts.

Japan has maintained a zero-tariff policy on cars since 1978, points out Mr Tsuruoka, while America still protects its own cars. Even now, America’s position in the TPP talks is to insist on a “special motor-vehicle safeguard” to protect its industry should an agreement be reached. Neither are the Americans dealing as openly and transparently with the other TPP countries, Mr Tsuruoka claims, as the Japanese have been from the beginning. While Japan automatically offers the same terms it gives to America to the other ten participating countries (which include Singapore, Chile, New Zealand and Mexico), America’s policy is to negotiate bilaterally with each. That slows down progress.

For all the ill will traded between the Japanese and American negotiating teams—resentment of America’s trade representative, Michael Froman, is said to be particularly pronounced—Mr Tsuruoka is still optimistic that an initial agreement in principle can be reached by the next deadline, the APEC trade meeting in November. For the moment the two sides are still engaged in a rather undignified food fight.

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