N.Z. minister slams TPP exceptions for Japan

26/04/2013    56

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New Zealand trade minister Tim Groser said Wednesday all trade products should be subjected to liberalization under the Trans-Pacific Partnership without exception, including farm products Japan is now trying to protect by maintaining tariffs.
“We will not handle these sensitivities in agriculture, autos or whatever, by exclusions from trade liberalization,” Groser told the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
His remarks came after Japan won the backing of all 11 participating countries over the weekend to join the TPP negotiating table.
Amid strong domestic calls to protect rice, beef and other farm products, Japan has been seeking to negotiate exceptions to the TPP’s general rule on tariff elimination.
But Groser said making exceptions will lead other countries to call for the same, complicating negotiations and possibly causing the envisioned trade pact to fall apart.
He added, however, that TPP members will deal with sensitive areas in a “sympathetic, responsible and reasonable way.”
Groser also said his country is “delighted” that Japan will be part of the TPP family, adding it makes the TPP “a far more interesting and important initiative.”
With Japan’s expected entry, the TPP countries would account for nearly 40 percent of global economic output and about a third of world trade, even without China.
The 11 countries already involved in the talks are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
April 25, 2013
Source: Kyodo

New Zealand trade minister Tim Groser said Wednesday all trade products should be subjected to liberalization under the Trans-Pacific Partnership without exception, including farm products Japan is now trying to protect by maintaining tariffs.

“We will not handle these sensitivities in agriculture, autos or whatever, by exclusions from trade liberalization,” Groser told the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.

His remarks came after Japan won the backing of all 11 participating countries over the weekend to join the TPP negotiating table.

Amid strong domestic calls to protect rice, beef and other farm products, Japan has been seeking to negotiate exceptions to the TPP’s general rule on tariff elimination.

But Groser said making exceptions will lead other countries to call for the same, complicating negotiations and possibly causing the envisioned trade pact to fall apart.

He added, however, that TPP members will deal with sensitive areas in a “sympathetic, responsible and reasonable way.”

Groser also said his country is “delighted” that Japan will be part of the TPP family, adding it makes the TPP “a far more interesting and important initiative.”

With Japan’s expected entry, the TPP countries would account for nearly 40 percent of global economic output and about a third of world trade, even without China.

The 11 countries already involved in the talks are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

April 25, 2013

Source: Kyodo

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