P.M. BRIEFING : Japan Shelves GATT Tariff Query
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TOKYO — Japan will not comply with a GATT request that it set out terms under which it would agree to replace its trade barriers to agricultural products with tariffs, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said today.
Under a plan originally suggested by the United States, countries would replace import bans, quotas and production subsidies for agricultural products with tariffs. The tariffs would then be removed gradually to achieve free trade.
The agriculture committee of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade last week asked Japan, Switzerland and South Korea to provide a list of conditions under which they would follow the plan, the Japanese official said.
But he said Japan will merely “study the tariff conversion plan as one option within the framework of multilateral trade talks.”
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