Japan will propose scrapping duties immediately on 90 percent of imports from Asean when it holds free trade talks with the regional bloc this week, a report said Tuesday.
But Japan wants to exclude politically sensitive rice from a deal, along with sugar and some other farm products on which Japan imposes duties of several hundred percent, the Nikkei economic daily said.
Japan, a major exporter, has been actively pursuing bilateral trade pacts amid a collapse of global trade negotiations. On Monday, it signed a deal with Indonesia, its sixth with a Southeast Asian country. Japan is also negotiating for a pact with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as a whole.
Japan and Asean are due to hold new talks Saturday in the Philippines. Japan will propose an immediate scrapping of tariffs on 90 percent of Asean imports in value terms, the report said. Free-trade deals generally entail the gradual elimination of tariffs over about 10 years.
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