SAKUYAMA Takumi
   Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Agriculture
   Position   Professor
Date 2015/05/08
Presentation Theme TPP and Japanese Agriculture
Conference 20th Japanese-German Symposium: Agriculture and Food Supply - Challenges and Perspectives
Promoters Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Bonn Office and German JSPS Alumni Association
Conference Type Workshop/Symposium
Presentation Type Speech (Invitation/Special)
Contribution Type Individual
Invited Invited
Venue Potsdam University, Germany
Details A Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is currently under negotiation to create a trading bloc among 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific. While its participants were initially New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and Brunei, they expanded subsequently to include the United States and Japan. A TPP seeks to be a '21st century trade agreement' with elimination of tariffs and comprehensive rules on goods, services and intellectual property, but it generates controversy in existing and potential entrants in the negotiations. Against this background, my presentation addresses the following questions: (i) why has the TPP succeeded in expanding despite the fact that its original members were all tiny countries? (ii) why is the participation to the TPP negotiations so controversial not only in Japan but also other countries? (iii) what will be the impacts of tariff elimination on Japanese food and agriculture under the TPP? (iv) what will be the prospect of concluding negotiations in the near term?