Trade Representative Ron Kirk urged Japan to open its markets to U.S. beef and insurance during a meeting with Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara on Sunday.
His remarks suggested that the elimination of non-tariff barriers will become a prerequisite for Japan joining the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, or TPP.
Tokyo and Washington have long been working on a bilateral free trade agreement, but little progress has been made due to Japan’s reluctance to open the farming sector and allow the entry of foreign firms into the postal services market.
Japan must overcome these impediments, otherwise its ambitious goal of achieving economic growth through the TPP could fall through. These long-unresolved issues have come into the spotlight again with the new TPP framework.
Ahead of his meeting with Maehara, Kirk also met with Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akihiro Ohata, who called for close cooperation with the U.S. in discussing the TPP. Kirk expressed a positive stance on forging close ties on this matter.
Source : Nikkei
