Trade chief Takashi Fukaya reiterated his determination Friday to seek a united front with the European Union and other economies against Washington's agriculture-oriented strategy in upcoming trade liberalization talks, scheduled to start in Seattle late next month.
Commenting on President Bill Clinton's announcement Wednesday of U.S. policy on the World Trade Organization's millennium round of talks, Fukaya said there is a "considerable difference" between the two countries' approaches. The U.S., he said, envisages the scope of the new round covering agriculture and other limited sectors, while Japan seeks to deal with a wide range of subjects.
"However, there are other economies, including the EU, that share our perspective. We'd like to ... seek cooperation and understanding from such economies," Fukaya told Friday's news conference.
To this end, Fukaya said he will explain Japan's stance in detail to Mike Moore, the WTO's newly appointed director general, when Moore visits Tokyo early next week.