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TPP To join or not to join, that is the question.

Well they decided to join the TPP :D , wish I had more time to follow it a bit more (will try to read more about this this week), but just want to share this article with you.


Noda paves way for TPP participation
The Japanese government decided Friday to join talks on a Pacific free trade agreement with a view to boosting the country's sluggish economy, fending off opposition from within the ruling party amid concern that the U.S.-backed tariff-cutting pact could adversely affect farmers and various sectors of everyday life.

The government is rushing to jump on the bandwagon as the talks are already in full swing, with trade ministers from the nine countries agreeing Thursday in Hawaii to forge a broad outline of the TPP agreement on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.

Farm minister Michihiko Kano said Friday that it will be "extremely difficult" for Japan to set exceptions to the removal of tariffs on sensitive items such as rice, as it has done in past bilateral FTAs with other countries.

read the whole article:
Noda paves way for TPP participation | The Japan Times Online
 
Thank you for posting that, I was a bit tied up. It's a smart move by Noda. It's going to be years before an actual agreement gets hammered out I am sure, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel now.
 
Japan is on the right track. Isolation and bilateral FTAs are no options in a globalised economy. I understand the woes of farmers and fishermen, but take a look at the bare numbers: only 4 percent of Japan's workforce are in the agricultural sector, and they generate 1.5 percent (!) of Japan's GDP. Yet, they have a disastrous stranglehold on policy-making, postponing vital economic and political decisions that should have been made years ago.

Interesting read from the East Asia Forum:

Japan's decision to join the TPP makes sense for two key reasons. First, the current structure of the Japanese economy, especially the agricultural sector, is not sustainable. As Japan's Council to Promote the Revitalisation of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries made clear in its October report, these sectors are under severe strain. Problems include declining incomes, shortages of farmers and an aging population. Addressing these issues will require a reorganisation of the country's agricultural sector — whether Japan enters the TPP or not.

Second, Japan's export sector is increasingly suffering from trade diversion, as key trading competitors like South Korea benefit from their various FTAs. For example, the EU-Korea FTA and the EU-US FTA mean that Korean cars will enter the EU and US markets more cheaply than those from Japan. This will make life increasingly difficult for Japanese car manufacturers seeking to export their goods. And while Japan does have a network of economic partnership agreements, most are not with major trading partners.

From the same source, but different contributors:

Industry versus agriculture in Japan's TPP debate

Japan's confused debate about the TPP
That's an interesting one, as some Japanese politicians seem to believe joining the TPP is a strategy against China...
 
Japan is on the right track. Isolation and bilateral FTAs are no options in a globalised economy. I understand the woes of farmers and fishermen, but take a look at the bare numbers: only 4 percent of Japan's workforce are in the agricultural sector, and they generate 1.5 percent (!) of Japan's GDP. Yet, they have a disastrous stranglehold on policy-making, postponing vital economic and political decisions that should have been made years ago.

Interesting read from the East Asia Forum:



From the same source, but different contributors:

Industry versus agriculture in Japan's TPP debate

Japan's confused debate about the TPP
That's an interesting one, as some Japanese politicians seem to believe joining the TPP is a strategy against China...

agriculture and famer's thing are one of problems.
i think you guys did not watch those video? or can not understand Japanese?
big broblem is not food and Agriculture problem

Investor State Dispute Settlement(ISD) of TPP has bigger risks for Japan



FTA of south korea and USA for Car
米韓FTAが発効してもすぐには関税率が下がらない。
乗用車は韓国側が主張した「関税の即時撤廃」が「5年後撤廃」になり、
商用車については「米側は10年目に撤廃。韓国側は現行10%の関税を即時撤廃」になった。

しかも、米側には「自動車に限定したセーフガード(緊急輸入制限)条項」が付いた。

米国車に対し韓国国内で協定違反があった場合、
「米側は韓国メーカーに関税を2億ドル課することができる」ようになった。
I think it is an unequal agreement like a Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan)
http://ictsd.org/i/news/bridges/98784/

Was South Korea threatened on the problem of bombardment of North Korea?
 
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Japan needs to participate to survive as an exporting nation. If all the surrounding nations enter into FTA's with EU and or the US Japanese producers are going to get left by the wayside.

Caster I don't have 35 minutes to watch a video that you posted, I would prefer for myself to read any information. But that's just me maybe others have watched I don't know. One comment though, your initial objections were pretty much strictly based upon the agricultural aspects to the TPP, but now it appears that you have backed off of that and are now against it based on what?

Here is a question for you, for discussions sake only since it has been decided already, if Japan does not join the TPP and allows the surrounding countries in the region to join the TPP and get favorable trade advantages for it's products just how is Japan going to survive on the world market?
 
Japan has already agreement with some south east asia such like this
as exporting nation, it already advanced local production in the world . today only 10persent
窶啣窶唹窶唹窶唸窶扼ツ 窶尿ツ出ナ?z窶啜窶售窶吮?コ窶ー~ツ ナステ?ナスツソ窶喃窶喞窶嗤窶啜窶啣窶啅窶吮?コ窶ー~ツ 窶喃窶喞窶嗤窶堙可静ィ窶堙溪?堙ゥナ?窶楪坂?。窶啀窶唹.窶啌ツ≫??.

it is getting small and samll.
however, just after tohoku earthquake, other nation oppositly understood they must need Japanese high tech products

---------- Post added at 21:15 ---------- Previous post was at 21:03 ----------

for example iphone
窶佚・ニ智ニ鍛ニ暖窶堙娯?壺?ー窶嗤窶塒??堋鞘?塲ス窶壺?ヲツ「窶禿冷?堋ゥ窶堙≫?堙??堋「窶堙ゥ窶堙娯?堙債、ナステ?窶堙坂?愿コ窶怒ツ」ツ―ナ?テ伉坂?佝陳?断ニ達ニ但 2010/12/17(窶ケテ?) 10:58:47 [ニ探ツーニ蛋ニ段]
thay can not make it without that

---------- Post added at 21:21 ---------- Previous post was at 21:15 ----------

in case of south korea
テ」竄ャナ津・ツ」ツイテ」窶塲津」窶壺?ケテ」ツ?サテ」ツ?ゥテ・ツ「窶氾」ツ⇒?」窶壺?ケテ・ツッツセテヲ窶板・ティツオツ、テ・ツュ窶氾」竄ャ竄ャティ窶楪アテヲ窶板・テヲナ督ャテヲツィツ。テァ'ツ「テ」ツ≫┐テ」窶壺?ケテゥナク窶愿・窶コツステ」竄ャツ催ッツシナ。テ」窶堋、テ」窶堋カテッツシツー/url]
 
i think you guys did not watch those video? or can not understand Japanese?

I also do not have enough time and my Japanese is not good enough to fully understand the politicians, would you mind taking out the main points out of the latest video you posted?

I do appreciate the video's you post, and would appreciate it even more if you could tell us more about it as well.
 
I don't know whether TPP is beneficial to Japan or not, but I would like to make things clear about some points:

1. Japan is one of the least export-reliant nations in the world. As far as I remember, USA is the least, and Japan is the second least.

2. Free Trade Network, excluding Japan, is not a problem, becasue Japanese Mfg established Mfg base in South East Asia & Mexico as Japan concluded a FTA with ASEAN and Mexico. It's not so serious about direct export from Japan. Japan has already been earning from non-merchandise trade from the world.

3. TPP negotiation is a framework to establish regional rules about economic activities, which consist of 21 fields. Merchandise trade (cars, electronics ... and agricultural products) is one of the 21 fields. Japanese farmers fear rice imports, dairy, and other agricultural exports from USA, Australia and NZ, but that's one of the concerns. People are concerned about infringement of sovereignty as TPP is aimed to place TPP rules on top of domestic laws.

Either way, PM Noda said Japan will start negotiation to become a negotiation member to make TPP rule. So Japan's position is Before TPP negotiation.

But I also see that TPP is one of the good ideas to take Asian growing economic pies, typically China, on a long term basis. If TPP is successfully launched, including Japan, China will feel more frustration, and TPP will virtually push China to transform her economy and move to FTA with Japan.

From this year to next year, Asian/Pacific region will become busier than before.
 
It very obviously depends on the terms. As far as i know the terms are still under discussion so i can't really answer when i don't know the specifics.
 
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