Japan Press Weekly

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2015 July 29 - August 4 [ECONOMY]

Farmers movement calls for halt to TPP negotiations

Trade ministers of twelve countries including Japan and the U.S. on July 31 in Hawaii closed a negotiation meeting for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact without reaching an agreement.

Commenting on the results of the TPP talks, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Yamashita Yosiki on August 3 said that this is due to growing public opposition against the TPP which only benefits multinationals and undermines peoples’ lives and economic sovereignty.

Two days earlier, Japan Family Farmers Movement (Nouminren) Chair Shiraishi Jun’ichi issued a statement. He said that public movements against the free trade pact succeeded in having the negotiations end in failure. The Nouminren chair argues that the TPP will impose U.S. rules on countries in the Asia-Pacific region, damage their sovereignty, and worsen peoples’ living conditions. He said that the TPP negotiations should be discontinued.

Shiraishi also criticized the Abe Cabinet for showing no hesitation in selling off Japan’s sovereignty and agriculture to the U.S. during the negotiations. He expressed his determination to have the TPP talks collapse by strengthening joint efforts with various strata of people and establishing solidarity with international movements.

The National Campaign for the Defense of the People’s Food and Health Secretary General Sakaguchi Masaaki also issued a statement. Citing a news report that Japan compromised on the lowering of tariffs on five key agricultural products in defiance of a Diet resolution, Sakaguchi criticized the Abe Cabinet for totally disregarding the Diet as well as public opinion. He demanded that Japan withdraw from the negotiations without delay.