US-Japan trade deal caught in a rice maze

Washington

A POWERFUL lobby stands in the way of two of the world's biggest economies completing a trade deal: Japanese rice farmers.

Rice is the island-nation's staple grain and a powerful symbol of self-sufficiency. It is also among the thorniest issues holding up an agreement the two nations hope to unveil when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama meet in Washington next week.

"Rice is a soc…