ASA recently joined several agriculture groups in signing on a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack praising previous efforts to expand market access with Japan, but seeking assurances that the U.S. will not close Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with Japan’s participation, unless Japan agrees to eliminate tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to agriculture.

TPP negotiations set an important standard for future trade agreements, and a positive outcome could mean billions in future exports and thousands of American jobs, but only if all 12 participating countries agree to address trade barriers comprehensively.

The groups stated their concerns for the possible outcomes of the negotiations with Japan.

“While we support such endeavors, we are concerned Japan, a member of TPP, has not yet made a comprehensive offer on market access as it relates to agriculture products,” the groups state in the letter. “This success will only be realized, however, if Japan and other U.S. trading partners agree to address trade barriers comprehensively, without broad exclusions for sensitive products such as those submitted by Japan.”

The letter continued, that “not only would special treatment for sensitive agriculture products be inconsistent with U.S. requests in previous trade agreements and assurances provided when Japan was invited to join TPP, but also could undermine the careful balance of concessions the other eleven economies have achieved.  If Japan is allowed exemptions, other TPP countries could demand similar treatment and the entire agreement would be at risk of unraveling.”

The groups concluded by asking for assurance that the U.S. will not close TPP negotiations with Japna unless the country agrees to eliminate tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to agriculture.