Trade deal threatens Japan's food security: ex-minister

Tokyo

JAPAN's food security and farm industry are threatened by a US-led Pacific trade agreement supported by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to a former Japanese agriculture minister.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would deepen Japan's dependence on agricultural imports, undermining its control over food safety and security, Masahiko Yamada, a lawyer and minister in 2010 in the then Democratic Party of Japan government, said in an interview on Thursday in Tokyo.

The opposition may prove to be another barrier for efforts by Japan and the US, by far the biggest economies among TPP members, to expedite talks on the agreement. Japan, which imports about 60 per cent of its food, cut its self-sufficiency target to 45 per cent as the government expands trade…