Japan wants 8% of farm products exempt from big tariff cuts

Sunday 20th July, 12:48 AM JST

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Badsey at 09:11 PM JST - 20th July

commodities are at a high right now, rice, wheat, corn etc. The tariff really don't matter as much as they once did when there was more excess. That $1 loaf of bread is now $2 US. Better quality brands are ~$3.

Countries that cannot feed themselves are gonna have difficult times ahead and there will be more global competition for fish and sea food. How much of Japan's food needs are provided by global (free) fishing? -quite a bit These free fishing areas may be restricted more in the future.

Tougher times are ahead with the massive growing economies of other nations (China, India, etc) -it's not a great time to lose farmers/farms = you actually need to encourage more food production.
presto345 at 10:20 PM JST - 20th July

And lemme guess... those same people couldn't be doing the same work for Ford, GM, or Chrysler ??? Why not ?

These guys could do the work, but the automakers can't manage the companies. Never learned how to build quality, reliable, efficient cars.
presto345 at 10:23 PM JST - 20th July

the Japanese are political wimps, as are American farmers with their protections.

Amen.
Sarge at 10:29 PM JST - 20th July

WTO: "4-6% of all farm products will be exempted from substantial tariff cuts"

Why?
freakashow at 11:18 PM JST - 20th July

Really ??? I can't ! Japan actively promotes the destruction of this crop and puts growth limits on it's farmers ! A completely illogical and outdated strategy that punishes consumers and hurts the environment. Boo !

I know, it's the same in the States. The Feds have been for years putting limits on the amounts that farmers can grow corn and wheat in the Midwest. How illogical is that? Please, can someone tell me why? And the crops they do permit are sprayed with harmful pesticides. Yeesh!
Badsey at 12:17 AM JST - 21st July

you are talking about farm subsidies:

Search for: "farm program pays $1.3 billion"

If you want to plant corn you can and if it goes below a certain amount the gov pays you. These chemicals and fertilizers cost money = less profit.

People are paid not to grow certain crops = true. It's a gov handout program that many take advantage of. Tobacco and hemp (etc) are crops that are limited/restricted (licensed to grow commercially) If you wanted to grow tobacco for personal use I believe that is ok.
Badsey at 12:26 AM JST - 21st July

so why do you have programs that pay people not to grow when crops are at an all time high?

Money is power. When politicians have people (family/friends/favors) dishing out (tax payer's) money it makes them feel powerful. -and there are people stupid enough to take the money. Welfare (lifetime) is similiar. Temporary use of programs like these can be beneficial = restructuring prairie and wetlands etc, but then why not just buy the land?
Good_Jorb at 01:27 AM JST - 21st July

Americans have always been able to produce high quality products at reasonible prices, I don't see any reason why they can't do it again if Japan insists on sabotaging another round of talks at Doha !!!

The American big 3 have completely failed to be innovative and offer what Americans want, hence thier massive sales losses.

Japan should protect certian farming activities, even though it may promote market inefficiencies because if they became isolated by say an act of war or a destabilization increase in oil(shipping that wheat is probably just as environmentally unfriendly). They need their own grain supplies to fall back.

With countries like Canada, the US, and Australia awash in the stuff and at hugely lower prices

Canada's wheat storage 2006-2007 down 54.8% due to export demand, 2007-2008 down another 32.2% due to export demand. American Wheat 2007-2008 storage down 27% lowest since 1952. Australia is only now starting to recover from a drought that desimated it's wheat storage. Awash in wheat indeed, note: stocks can only go down so before it becomes a serious danger to any given country (China'a great leap forward and England's colonial rule of India come to mind).

I have little to add to what westurn and borscht have written : let the European Community take restrictive measures as well. Japan and its medieval politics have been taking advantage of western liberalism for too long.

Yes, Japan is medieval, asking for 4% less the EU, they too should be pushing for the western liberalism advantage.

Looking ahead, the EU is ready to reduce tariffs by an average of 50% (from current averages of 23% to 12%). http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=962

See the US farm bill, in paticular Latin America, tarrifs and sugar. (The irony of this one).

Sorry for not posting links to information here (but I assume people can google if you don't believe me). And it is nice that the hypocrisy here far out weighs facts or educated opinions.
usaexpat at 11:55 PM JST - 21st July

I'm all for protecting domestic producers. As I've said a million times, domestic production is a national security issue. The WTO is part of the reason our global economy has passed so many by so no deal is a good deal in my book.
usaexpat at 12:03 AM JST - 22nd July

Westurn for your railing against closed commodity markets in Japan and how the Japanese automakers should be shut out of the US market you are trying to tie in 2 unrelated items. As for tarrifs etc. on the Japanese side we are certainly guilty as well, check out the latest farm bill and see how many subsidies are worked in there to protect large corporate farms. On the car issue you're missing three key points. First the Japanese opened factories in the US to avoid import duties back in the 80s so it's not as if you could shut out what is essentially a domestic product. Point 2 these workers couldn't be working for Chrysler, GM or Ford because those companies are shedding jobs like crazy due to making cars that the public isn't buying. The final point of course is domestic content, in many cases these "Japanese" cars made in America have as much domestic content as the products of the big 3 go read some window stickers.
westurn at 12:05 AM JST - 22nd July

Umm... presto345:

"Never learned how to build quality, reliable, efficient cars."

Nonsense ! The Japanese learned their quality control theory and strategy from a great American, William Edward Deming ! He was most noted for showing Ford motor co. ways to improve its production. What American auto co's can't equal though is Japans ability to deceive, cheat, and blatantly lie to the consumer. There are simply too many watchdog groups in te USA to allow this to happen the way it does here in Japan.
westurn at 12:07 AM JST - 22nd July

usaexpat... I'll look at only one thing... the historical ongoing trade imbalance between the USA and Japan ... 'nough said ! I'm for "managed trade" with Japan ... not open ! The Japanese simply refuse to reciprocate time and time again !
westurn at 12:10 AM JST - 22nd July

Oh and expat...

"Point 2 these workers couldn't be working for Chrysler, GM or Ford because those companies are shedding jobs like crazy due to making cars that the public isn't buying."

They would be if they had no choice ! Much like in Japan where they buy whats "available" not what they "want" ! Trust me, Americans could do without so damn many choices !
usaexpat at 12:19 AM JST - 22nd July

Westurn I want managed trade with all nations because globilization is killing the US economy. That said Japan hasn't been costing us jobs since the unlamented 80s when factories were closing daily, if you haven't looked lately it's China that got us by the short hairs now. Again refer to the farm bill, our tax money subsidizes our famrers so you can't blame other nations for doing the same. I'm really not into your plan for saving the big three by limiting consumers choices, how about they start making cars that consumers want, much better plan.
borscht at 07:37 AM JST - 22nd July

Good_lorb, Thanks for the added information. By 'awash' I meant wheat-producing - America, Australia, and Canada - while their storage levels are down - are still able to grow more wheat more cheaply than Japan because of economies of scale and availability of land for farming. Meanwhile the US Wheat Org has forecast a 9% increase in worldwide production of wheat over 2007 (up 19% in the US, 22% in Canada and a whopping 92% in Australia - probably because of last year's draught).

From Kansas Asia site:

Wheat production peaked at about 1.7 million metric tons in the early 1960. Since then, production has gone back up to more than 850,000 tons in 2003. Still, Japan imports each year ... nearly 90 percent of the wheat the Japanese consume,

By the way, US storage levels are down to their 1952 levels but I remember in 1966 my grandfather complaining that the storage levels were way too low.

However, this does not address the problem of why the Japanese wheat industry needs protection. (100,000 farmers grow wheat, on the other hand, and 100,000+ votes can't be ignored by the LDP.)