Agence France Presse | Aug. 12, 2003
Japan plans to accept in principle the idea of cutting import tariffs across the board in World Trade Organization farm talks on the condition that the reduction excludes rice and some other products, a report said Tuesday.
The Japanese government plans to convey its proposal to the United States as early as this week, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said without citing sources. Tokyo wants to maintain high tariffs on a small number of products, such as rice, the nation's staple food, and pork, while agreeing to the across-the-board cuts on other items, the economic daily said.
The latest round of WTO free-trade talks has made little progress since being launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital Doha.
The drive is stalled over conditions to progressively reduce export subsidies for agriculture and on access to markets -- key issues for poor countries unable to compete in the global marketplace.
Japan had teamed up with the European Union (EU) against food exporting countries led by the United States over ways to reduce tariffs on farm trade.
In July, however, the EU agreed with the United States to craft a joint WTO position on the farming proposal, making Japan increasingly isolated in the multilateral negotiations.
WTO ministers are to meet in Cancun, Mexico, in September to try to boost the bogged-down negotiations toward an agreement toppling global trade barriers by the end of 2004.
The Nihon Keizai said the talks were expected to yield a major breakthrough if Japan, the United Sates and the European Union agree on the across-the-board tariff cuts for farm products.Agence France Presse:
