The Fast Track needs to be repealed and/or interrupted for Public Comment before ANY agreement.

By Ava TAkada and Yurly Humber
August 2, 2012

...The U.S. and Japanese governments want it. (click here) Mitsubishi backs it. Toyota Motor(TM) says it can’t compete without it. Yet whether Japan joins the biggest attempt at a free-trade pact may hinge on farmers like Tadashi Hirose. Hirose loses money on his 14 hectares (35 acres) of paddies in southwest Hokkaido, forcing him to take a second job at a construction company. Still, he says, if Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, or TPP, the resulting competition from abroad would destroy his family’s livelihood and economically devastate Hokkaido, the top rice-producing region....

By CTC
March 4, 2013
Saying that the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (click here) potential impact on the U.S. dairy sector is too significant to adopt a “wait and see” approach, 11 national organizations are urging Congress to replace Fast Track with a process that contains specific safeguards for dairy farmers, workers, processors and consumers....

This is not Nixon's America. Fast Track is pure corruption.

Fast Track was a U.S. procedure established in the 1970s by President Nixon for negotiating trade agreements that concentrated power in the president’s hands. It delegated to the executive branch Congress’ exclusive constitutional authority to “regulate Commerce with foreign nations.” In particular, Fast Track allowed the executive branch to select countries for, set the substance of, and then negotiate and sign trade agreements — all before Congress had a vote on the matter.

Kyodo New
January 15, 2014

Japan's farm minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (click here) told U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy on Wednesday that there is strong concern among Japanese farmers over the direction of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks, a Japanese official said.

During their meeting, Hayashi emphasized that Tokyo and Washington need to boost bilateral cooperation further in the area of agriculture as well as over the TPP negotiations, according to the official of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.

Kennedy agreed, saying the two sides should work even more closely on these issues, the official added.

Japan and the United States have been at odds over how to deal with tariffs that Tokyo seeks to retain on five sensitive farm product categories. The U.S.-led TPP aims to abolish all tariffs.

US soybeans will meet the dietary demands of the Japanese people.

By Aya Takada
October 24, 2013

From rice (click here) for controlling blood glucose levels to soybeans that reduce fatty acids, Japan is seeking new ways to make money from agriculture as pressure mounts to cut the tariffs its farmers rely on to make a living.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government estimates there’s a potential 600 billion yen ($6.2 billion) market for so-called functional foods, strains of mostly fruits, vegetables and grains with provable health benefits beyond regular nutrition. He’s put 2 billion yen into the agriculture ministry’s coffers for a three-year project to develop new varieties of rice, soybeans, barley, onions and buckwheat.

Japan’s senior citizens, whose ranks are swelling at the fastest pace in the world, are a natural market for these products that must be embraced as tariffs of as much as 778 percent on rice come under threat, said Makoto Nakatani, the ministry’s research director. Abe is pursuing a place in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact while OECD data shows the nation’s farmers depend on government handouts for more than half their income, versus 7 percent in the U.S....

No one wants the TPP except Wall Street. Toyota competes just fine in the USA. Toyota wants to take over the US market and put US companies out of business.

2/22/13

The United States and Japan (click here) on Friday agreed on language aimed at giving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe political cover to bring the world's third-largest economy into negotiations on a U.S.-led free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region....

...In a carefully worded statement following Abe's meeting with President Barack Obama, the two countries reaffirmed that "all goods would subject to negotiation" if Japan joins the talks with the United States and 10 other countries.

At the same time, the statement leaves open a possible outcome to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks where the Japan could still protect its rice sector and the United States could keep duties on Japanese autos.

"Recognizing that both countries have bilateral trade sensitivities, such as certain agricultural products for Japan and certain manufactured products for the United States, the two governments confirm that, as the final outcome will be determined during the negotiations, it is not required to make a prior commitment to unilaterally eliminate all tariffs upon joining the TPP negotiations," the statement said....

Ford Motor, the only company that didn't need a bailout in 2008, and their employees are not at all happy about the TPP.

...That stance also worries Ford Motor Co and the United Auto Workers, which have pressured the Obama administration not to allow Japan into the talks until Tokyo makes reforms to open its market to more auto imports.

Although Japan already has no auto tariffs, Ford and the UAW argue that the country relies on regulatory and other non-tariff barriers to keep out auto imports....

General Motors says no.

July 18, 2013
by Ellen Crobier

General Motors has mounted an online petition drive (click here) in the wake of Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to demand the inclusion of strong currency provisions in the final agreement “to prevent subsidies to Japanese auto producers” and to demand that Japan fully open its market to U.S. products.

In a cover note to the petition, GM says that this effort is backed by Ford and Chrysler, as well as the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). The petition seeks support from GM dealers, employees, suppliers, retirees and customers to express their message to members of Congress.

The cover note says that GM does not welcome Japan’s participation, but that it is now working “to do what we can to influence the details of the agreement so it includes strong, enforceable currency disciplines that will prevent Japan from manipulating the value of the yen and opens the Japanese market to U.S. products.”

“We strongly oppose completing the TPP with Japan at this time because Japan has the most closed automotive market in the world,” the petition states. It also charges that Japan continues to manipulate its currency to unfairly subsidize Japanese automobile companies....