Panels of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Thursday to call on the government to demand that minimum access levels on rice imports be reduced in its proposals for the next round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization.
Members of panels on agricultural trade and general policy said the current minimum access level -- the amount Japan must import under the agreement reached in the Uruguay Round of free trade talks under the auspices of the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade -- should be lowered.
Japan refused to agree to rice tariffs in the Uruguay Round, which concluded in December 1993, citing the devastating effect of cheaply imported rice on domestic producers.