P. M. BRIEFING : Japan Defends Rice Import Ban; Yuetter Rapped for Interfering

Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu said today that Japan will maintain a ban on rice imports to protect domestic growers despite U.S. demands for improved market access.

“Rice and rice cultivation have a special significance for our country and in light of this we will continue to adhere to the basic policy of self-sufficiency,” Kaifu told legislators in an upper house session.

Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills recently called on Japan to gradually open up its rice market. Agriculture Secretary Clayton K. Yeutter also said this week that he would welcome a move by Japan to substitute the rice ban with tariffs.

Japanese consumers pay up to six times world prices for domestic rice as the government props up inefficient rice producers with substantial subsidies.

Japan Agricultural Minister Tomio Yamamoto said today that Yeutter was interfering in Japan’s internal affairs by remarking that Japan will eventually open up its rice market.

“It is unreasonable for the United States to talk as if Japan had already decided to open up the rice market,” Yamamoto told reporters.

“Japan is not patient enough to endure further meddling by U.S. government officials in Japan’s rice policy,” he said.