White House, Noda differ over what he said to Obama on TPP
TOKYO —
A White House spokesman said Tuesday that the United States would not revise its statement on what Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said to U.S. President Barack Obama about Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, even though Noda has denied saying it.
The State Department reported that Obama welcomed “Noda’s statement that he would put all goods, as well as services, on the negotiating table.” Noda said in the Diet on Tuesday that is not what he said, and that he had been misquoted, NHK reported.
U.S. Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told a news conference that the statement was based on private consultations between Obama and Noda on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Hawaii and that there was no need to revise it.
Opposition lawmakers urged Noda to clarify what he said and criticized the prime minister for making vague statements on Japan’s decision to join talks on the TPP, NHK reported.
Japan Today
Order by Time Order by Popularity
32 Comments
Login to comment
-1
some14some
"slight" misunderstanding, will die down soon.
4
smartacus
Obama's interpreter is probably at fault in this case. The Japanese language is so vague that she probably assumed that is what Noda was saying. When is Japan going to get a PM who can speak English fluently?
3
NetNinja
Japan plays this game all the time. When it's convenient for them "That's not what I said". When you're life is on the line here in Japan. "You misunderstood" Shoganai.
It's like taking your hand off your piece in Chess.
Hey Noda, guess what, you're a world leader. Your word represents Japan. It's on the table now.
0
soldave
Given what's gone on recently in Japan, I'm going to assume all but strong Republicans are going to believe the White House's record of what has been said.
-1
Dog
smartacusNov. 16, 2011 - 07:43AM JST *Obama's interpreter is probably at fault in this case. The Japanese language is so vague that she probably assumed that is what Noda was saying. *
No, who or what is at fault here is Noda double talking and Japan double dealing.
Because Japan wrecked the last APEC free trade talks in 1998, by backing out in the last minute due to agricultural tariffs, a pre-condition to any country joining the these TPP talks is that they must enter from a position and promise that nothing in services or goods has automatic right to protection thru tarrifs or subsidies.
Noda must have said what he is supposed to have said and if he didn't it is automatically assumed that it is so as an implied condition for Japan enetering the TPP talks.
-4
issa1
Mr. Noda,please, resign and walk away with your mates dpj to open a grocery store - For it is the only thing who you knows do right - Diplomacy and international relations is not something for People unskilled
1
paulinusa
Much ado about nothing. The US already knows the internal politics of TPP in Japan and Noda has to purposely be vague not only with other countries but his own.
0
issa1
This is the beginning of yet mess of minshuto. their problem is trying to please everybody. How a guy like this come to the position of prime minister ?? Bunch of amateurs !
0
NetNinja
I'm not willing to accept any idea that Obama went to the TPP without anyone less than the most qualified personnel. That of course being the translator.
Now if any blunder has been made, I believe it was on Japan's side.
Rule #1 in Politics and Business: Nothing is off the record.
Sorry but we don't roll like Olympus with backroom deals and star chamber type conferences underground. Someone in his administration should have told Japan's leader. Hey, they do business the honest way with lots of transparency. Plus there are microphones everywhere and they are always on.
P.S. Don't say anything about Israel's Prime Minister with the French President either. Someone might hear you.
-1
just-a-guy
Probably Mr Noda has regretted what he has said after ackowledging the firece opposition from Japanese farmers! The DPJ is leading japan to a more chaotic phase and turbulences situation that will servelycrippled the state and a bankrupted credibility
-1
just-a-guy
I hope Mr Noda shall not made Mr Obama mad for his 'withdrawn' of words over TPP that has pomised ortherwise the US Japan relations will sink to a lower level! You know Mr Obama count on the TPP for his re-election to be the next president!
-1
Cricky
The world is passing and Japan has no Idea...It's a shame people have been working themselves to death for a country that returns the favor with, more work. A very regrettable situation.
1
Jack Stern
Everyone seems to know what the translator did or did not translate correctly. I don't know the translation or who did it or if the script was even read back to Mr. Norda or his personal translator for correctness. It's often called the "foot in mouth disease".
-3
tmarie
It is very regrettable that Noda can't speak English. It is also very regrettable that Japan still has its head up its butt and doesn't realise that many countries are going to stop playing with Japan. It is also regrettable that when other countries are working together and they get decently priced fruits and vegs (amongst many other things), the Japanese public will be stuck with over-priced homegrown food that or or may not be contaminated. Very regrettable indeed.
Why Obama even bothers with Japan now is beyond me. Why does anyone??
1
LFRAgain
Where you being rhetorical? Here are a few reasons why:
Japan is the fourth largest trading parter in the world with the United States. Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world behind China -- and that's even after almost 20 years of recession. Japan is the United States staunchest poitical, military, and economic ally in Asia, bar none.
The more accurate question would be, why does the United States insist on pressuring an ally to make an economically unfavorable deal that would only benefit one side, in this case, U.S. farmers?
The agricultural provisions of the TPP are most definitely not in Japan's best interests, thus Japan's reluctance to hop on board. But that doesn't mean a vital trading partner like the U.S. simply turns its back because Japan won't roll over. Changes need to be made to the TPP agreement to create a more favorable trade balance.
0
LFRAgain
Why should the Japanese government, much less the Japanese people, care one whit about whether Obama gets re-elected or not? He's not Japan's elected leader. Noda is. And Noda is tasked with championing Japan's economic needs, not America's.
-1
Poke
"The agricultural provisions of the TPP are most definitely not in Japan's best interests"
Some people on this board (LRFAgain) seem to have tunnel vision about the TPP. First of all, the agricultural provisions might be in the interest of "Japan" if you mean the farmers and agricultural cooperative, but might be in the interest of a broader spectrum of Japanese consumers. And, please, spare me the resort to paranoid food self-reliance talk or spirituality of rice.
Second, the reason Japan would enter this TPP is because there is a lot more at stake than agriculture, and Japan stands to gain a lot in other more important sectors--say, export-oriented manufacturing. Is Japan's primarily an agricultural country? Is Japanese rice known throughout the world (not just in the minds of Japanese)? Try to have some perspective...I think some of you may have spent too much time in Japan.
-1
Brandon A English
ROFLMAO to the person above who thinks the US government is "transparent and honest." LoL! Wow, you really have no clue about the world, do you?
0
tmarie
LFRA, Japan doesn't offer anything other countries don't. Time to stop being so nice to the child and move on.
-1
Dog
*****Why should the Japanese government, much less the Japanese people, care one whit about whether Obama gets re-elected or not?*
Because there's no town or city called Perry in either of japan's 4 main islands.
-1
just-a-guy
Being the PM of Japan cant say NO to the president of United States! So dont blame too harsh over Mr Noda
0
LFRAgain
tmarie,
Then what need is there for a trade agreement?
0
herefornow
Dog --yup. Same as Hatoyama saying "trust me" when he had no plan for Futenma, and Clinton having to call out the then FM a year or so back for also trying to back-slide on something that was said. Never going to change. And why Japan will never get a seat at the grown-up's table when it comes to international affairs.
-1
herefornow
LFRAaain -- really? Don't think so. What is not ij Japan's "best interests" is continuin to support a system of agriculture that has not made sense for decades and costs over $60 billion a year so folks can pay 5 times the market rate for stables. Or does the fact that the government is borrowing more than it takes in every year in taxes not register with you? And, as to why the U.S. is pushing so hard -- could just be that the U.S. recognizes that it is better to try to force Japan to make the needed changes than have to bail Japan out in a decade or so when the whole house-of-cards comes tumbling down.
-5
tmarie
LFRA, location, location, location. Again, what does Japan offer than no other country does in terms of goods and whatnot?? I can't think of one.
-2
Marion Wm Steele
Being real candid, we in America find we cannot take to the Bank anything Obama promises. His Presidency is on the line and I, for one, hope we get a new face in the White House. Some one we can trust - we are broke!
0
LFRAgain
Poke,
Don't particularly care about arguments revolving around rice spirituality, but whether you like it or not, food self-reliance is a real issue. Just because that particular reality doesn't coincide with your mistaken belief that all countries in the world should price food at the same ridiculously low level that that United States does (and subsequently has to subsidize its own farmers in order to keep them in business -- fancy that) doesn't make the food self-sustainability issue magically go away.
Utter horse puckey on so many levels, it staggers the imagination. For one, Japan's economy is almost exclusively dependent on export-oriented manufacturing. So what, pray tell, could possibly be gained by joining a treaty that would effectively nibble away at that income by forcing Japan to import more goods, thus resulting in lost local manufacturing jobs? Where have we seen that problem rear up and bite the locals in the hienie before. Oh, yes. I recall now. The United States.
For another, if "there is a lot more at stake than agriculture," ass you maintain, then why not renegotiate the terms of the treaty to create a proposal that would be beneficial to all? Isn't that what good trading "partners" do, act in good faith?
So, is this the part where you start pooping on the thread with endless whinging about 100-yen apples?
Boo-freakin-hoo.
This isn't the U.S. and the current economic model for Japan has and still continues to result in a far larger middle class than the gradual Wal-Martification of the United States has unfortunately managed to produce. Consumers in Japan have done perfectly well with the current food pricing structure over the past 65 years without having to become a dumping ground for U.S. excess in order to help you feel like you're back home as you play the snooty house guest during your recreational stint in Japan.
1
LFRAgain
Herefornow,
If there were a way to upload audio files to the forum, you'd be able to hear one of me laughing with a heartfelt, "Bwah-hahahahaha!!!" You've are not seriously be trying to peddle a "Kind and benevolent Uncle Sam is just trying to save Japan from an unsound domestic fiscal policy" argument, are you?
Japan holds so much of the United States public debt due to Uncle Sam's habitual overspending that if it cashed in tomorrow, the U.S., indeed the world, would be mired in an economic depression to rival that following the 1928 Crash. Japan is the world's second-largest holder of U.S. public debt in the form of Treasury Bills, T-bonds, and notes, to the tune of 956 BILLION dollars against the U.S.'s $14 trillion national debt. China's number one. So please try to at least be serious when you attempt to refute arguments against TPP.
The United States is pushing hard because it needs to jump-start its own economy by creating markets for its manufactured goods. Period. Japan doesn't want to open its markets to those goods when doing so will result in the loss of jobs for people in Japan who already make those goods. Period.
What's so difficult to understand about this?
-2
just-a-guy
Being America's enemy is dangerous(china) but being america's ally is 'fatal (japan)! I think Mr Noda was hijacked by his 'ally' that japan has to pay much much more than the plaza accord 1985!
0
globalwatcher
For going forward, I suggest both parties need to include transcriptionists or all negotiations have to be recorded to avoid misunderstanding.
0
Scrote
If everything is not on the table, as Noda seems to claim, he entirely misses the point of the TPP. If Japan wants to seek exceptions for certain products it is free to negotiate with individual countries to find a mutually acceptable compromise and leave the TPP to those who are willing to put everything on the table.
Unfortunately, Japanese "negotiating" tactics appear to be to repeat the same thing over and over again, conceding nothing. Refer to the "Northern Territories" issue for an example. This is also why four years of "negotiating" a FTA with Australia have gone nowhere.
0
MASSWIPE
LFRagain:
"For one, Japan's economy is almost exclusively dependent on export-oriented manufacturing"
People like you need to stop peddling this myth. Exports as a percentage of GDP in Japan is quite low, and certainly much lower than in South Korea or Taiwan. Japan hasn't had an export-dependent economy since probably the 1970s, at least.
The US is basically trying to engage in some clawback here, and it's not hard to understand why. During the Cold War, for the sake of geopolitical aims, Washington threw its own home-grown manufacturers under the bus in order to spur rapid industrial development in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Detroit and other industrial hubs in the US were sacrificed on the altar of avoiding the Sovietization of Tokyo, Seoul, and Taipei. The US consumer market was kept wide open while the East Asians were allowed to keep theirs relatively closed, all the while accessing US technology and keeping their currencies weak. The East Asians gleefully took advantage of this offer that couldn't be refused, and quite understandably they are now resistant to altering the trading rules any further in a way that would hurt their people.
Back to top