Japan has “strongly objected” to a Trump administration request urging it to buy more rice, which snagged bilateral talks between the two nations this weekend, a report said.
This follows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the country (which started on Friday) to attend bilateral talks at the India-Japan Summit.
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Japan’s top tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa, who is the country’s minister of state for economic and fiscal policy, on Thursday cancelled a trip to the US at the last minute, citing unspecified “points that need to be discussed at the administrative level”, as per a Nikkei Asia article cited in a Reuters report.
The report added that this abrupt decision came after US President Donald Trump revised the US-Japan trade deal inked in July—which had kept Tokyo’s tariff rate at 15 per cent—by adding a commitment for Japan to buy more American rice, the report said, citing unnamed Japanese officials.
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In the July deal, when the White House said that Japan would boost US rice purchases by 75 per cent, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that despite the possible increase, the agreement would “not sacrifice” Japanese agriculture. The White House’s new revision contradicts this.
As a result, an official called it an “interference in domestic affairs”.
Agriculture has also been a hotly disputed point in India-US trade talks, because of which the two sides had not arrived at a trade deal despite five iterations of talks. The sixth round of trade talks has been postponed indefinitely.
India continues to remain steadfast against US demands for duty concessions on agricultural and dairy products, as India’s ‘Make in India’ policy clashes with Washington’s ‘America First’ policy.
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Akazawa’s trip was meant to approve a $550 billion package of US-bound investment via government-backed loans and guarantees.
However, after the cancellation, Akazawa has said that the two sides would have to continue ironing out their differences over the July agreement.
AloJapan.com