Japan Agrees to Open Its Paper Trade : Commerce: Barriers that had kept the U.S. market share to 1.7% will be lifted.
U.S. and Japanese negotiators reached agreement Sunday on removing barriers that have blocked sales of foreign paper products in Japan.
U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills, said the agreement will widen American companies’ sales of paper and paperboard products in a Japanese market estimated at $27 billion annually.
“This agreement is good for our industry and workers, good for the Japanese consumer and good for our global trading system,” Hills said.
“For too long, the globally competitive U.S. paper industry has been thwarted in its efforts to make inroads into the Japanese market,” she said.
The American Paper Institute also welcomed the pact. Irene Meister, an official of the trade association, called it a “major achievement.”
U.S. paper companies have complained for years about being prevented from competing on an equal footing in Japan. The API estimated that the American share of the market was 1.7% while the total foreign share was 3.7%.
Negotiators went into overtime to reach agreement on talks that had been scheduled to conclude March 31. Japan agreed to negotiations on opening its paper market as part of a package of trade concessions announced when President Bush visited in January.
Under the agreement, Japan pledged to promote foreign sales of paper products by, among other things, encouraging major paper users to adopt written purchasing guidelines applicable to both domestic and foreign suppliers.
A U.S. trade official said the agreement requires the Japanese government to focus its effort on the food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and publishing industries, major users of paper and paperboard products.
The official, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said there were no specific target percentages in the agreement. Instead, he said, there will be six-month reviews during the five-year life of the plan to make sure Japan lives up to its commitments.
