Japan and the US have found “common ground” to forge a two-way trade deal, but may not be able to resolve remaining sticking points in time for a meeting in the middle of next month of top negotiators seeking a broad regional deal, a senior Japanese official said.
Marathon talks during US President Barack Obama’s state visit to Tokyo last week yielded progress — hailed by the two sides as a “key milestone” — but the two sides stopped short of announcing a deal vital to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation bloc that would extend from Asia to Latin America.
However, the upbeat tone was a contrast to the emphasis on “gaps” after previous rounds of talks on a bilateral deal that has been stalemated by differences over access to Japan’s agriculture market and both countries’ car markets.
“What Obama’s visit produced after many lengthy negotiations was a common ground on which the two sides believe we can continue to work to find a mutually acceptable solution,” the Japanese official said.
He declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks.
“We no longer have to worry that the lack of a Japan-US pathway is going to block negotiations with other countries. This is a very important landmark Obama was able to produce,” he said.
However, he added he was “not optimistic” that Washington and Tokyo could work out remaining issues “in a month or two.”
Negotiators from the 12 TPP countries are to meet in Vietnam in next month, followed by a gathering of Asia-Pacific trade ministers in China on May 17 and May 18.
Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are likely to meet next at an Asia-Pacific summit in China in November.
Both Obama and Abe have domestic constituencies keen to see their leaders stick to rival stances: a US demand that Japan scrap all tariffs and Japan’s pledge to protect politically powerful farmers in five sectors including rice, beef and pork.
Yet both leaders are keen for a deal — Obama because TPP is central to his “pivot” of military, diplomatic and economic resources to Asia and Abe because he has touted the trade deal as a key element of reforms needed to generate economic growth.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported over the weekend that the two sides had in fact reached a “basic agreement” in last week’s talks, but that Tokyo wanted to avoid announcing it for fear of hurting the ruling party’s prospects in a Sunday by-election for a seat in parliament’s lower house.
Obama faces opposition from a wary US Congress and farm good exporters worried that Washington will settle for “TPP-Lite.”
Commenting on the Yomiuri report, the Japanese official said both sides had offered significant compromises, with the US dropping insistence on scrapping all tariffs and Tokyo offering bolder market access improvements than previously.
However, he said no deal would be reached until all elements were in place.
“Nobody is dreaming that we have concluded everything,” he said.
“All professional trade negotiators know that unless everything is agreed, everything is open,” he said, adding that stakeholders in both countries had to be brought on board.
Among the issues yet to be thrashed out are the period of time over which tariffs will be reduced and what sort of steps Japan can take to soften the blow on farmers.
“There are a lot of uncertainties we need to resolve, either technically or politically,” the Japanese official said.
Both sides expressed optimism that progress on a US-Japan deal will breathe momentum into the push for a regional pact covering 40 percent of the world economy and creating a rule-based framework that could entice China to join.
The Japanese official echoed that view, but said there was no timetable set for when exhausted US and Japanese negotiators would meet, nor could he predict when a long-delayed broader deal would be reached.
“That part is not in sight right now,” he said.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS