US farm groups seek to exclude Japan from Pacific trade talks

United States farm groups have called for Japan to be suspended from Pacific trade talks if it insists on keeping tariffs on sensitive agricultural sectors.

Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari told Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trading partners at talks in Singapore last week that Japan would not agree to abolish all tariffs on wheat, rice, dairy, sugar, beef and pork.

US and Japanese negotiators were due to begin two more days of meetings on farm exports in Washington yesterday and groups representing American dairy, wheat, rice and pork farmers said they could still reach a deal.

"Failing that, the alternative is suspending negotiations with Japan for now and concluding a truly comprehensive agreement with those TPP partners that are willing to meet the originally contemplated level of ambition," the National Association of Wheat Growers, US Wheat Associates, USA Rice Federation, the National Pork Producers Council and the International Dairy Foods Association said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It is a big step but one that will be justified if Japan continues to refuse to open its agricultural sector to meaningful competition."

The joint statement is important because of the power the farm lobby wields in Washington. If farm groups refuse to support the TPP, which would create a 12-nation trade bloc covering 40 per cent of the world economy, support in the US Congress could weaken further.