U.S. and Japanese negotiators are working to complete a trade agreement they can unveil during a state visit to Washington later this month by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, something they hope will pave the way for the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership involving 10 other countries.
At issue in the accord between the U.S. and Japan is market access for U.S. agricultural products, such as rice, wheat, dairy products, beef and pork, as well as automobiles. The U.S. and Japan deal would only take effect if incorporated into the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership that Japan joined in 2013. Although all the governments must agree, the United States and Japan are by far the largest economies involved.
“Negotiators are meeting around the clock, countries are moving on issues that seem intractable months ago,” said Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler of the bilateral talks in a March 30 speech in New York. “I’ve been doing this a long time and I sense and feel that we are in the end game.”
They have narrowed differences over how much Japan will open its heavily protected agricultural sector to imports, a politically sensitive issue in Japan. And they have explored ways the United States would lower tariffs on auto parts and Japan would ease auto trade barriers as well, people briefed on the talks said.
Cutler, Froman’s key deputy on the Pacific trade talks, nevertheless signaled that the United States will be skeptical until a deal is struck. “We are watching to see if Prime Minister Abe is ready to make these decisions affecting important domestic constituencies in his own party,” she told the Japan Society. “We are focused on getting the substance right,” she said. “We are not prepared to sacrifice substance to get a deal. My sense is Japan shares this view.”
