OSAKA -- At a meeting this weekend in Nara to prepare for the Group of Eight summit in July, the U.S. will press Japan to move quickly toward the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations, a senior U.S. State Department official said in Osaka on Friday.
"Japan needs to create conditions for the next round of WTO negotiations. Globalization will be the focus of the Nara meeting, and Japan should not delay the next WTO round," said U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, Alan Larson, who will represent the U.S. at the Nara meeting.
At the same time, the undersecretary indicated the U.S. might be willing to go easier on Japan with regards to specific sector issues such as agriculture. At the failed WTO ministerial meeting held in Seattle two months ago, the U.S. position on open agricultural markets sharply differed from both Japan and the European Union, which favored reducing tariffs at a slower pace.