Japan and Australia failed to bridge a wide gap on agricultural tariffs after completing a fourth round of talks on reaching an elusive free-trade agreement, a Japanese official said Friday.
Australia and its largest trading partner held five days of negotiations in Tokyo on a trade pact, which if sealed would be the first between Japan, Asia's largest economy, and a major agricultural exporter. The two sides exchanged lists and proposals on market access but reached no consensus, a Japanese foreign ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity.
"We have to admit that there remains a huge gap in the field of agricultural trade," he said. "We are keeping our policy of protecting what needs to be protected." Japan maintains hefty tariffs on agricultural imports to protect its politically powerful farmers, historically a support base for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The rural base deserted the ruling party in landmark elections last year, giving control of one house of parliament to the centre-left opposition, which has railed against Japan's free-market reforms. Japan and Australia will hold another round of talks in late April in Canberra, the official said.
He said that Japan sought during the latest talks to put in writing assurances of stable supply of Australian natural resources such as natural gas, which would be a key incentive for Tokyo of a free-trade deal.
The talks in Tokyo were the first on the free-trade deal since centre-left Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took over in Australia in December. Rudd's predecessor John Howard had championed reaching a deal with Japan. But the Japanese official said his side noticed no significant changes in Australian positions due to the change of government.
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