Japan is not optimistic over its prospects of concluding a free-trade agreement with Mexico, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
The government's negotiating team, headed by Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Shotaro Yachi, is in Mexico trying to get the FTA talks back on track.
The two nations failed to reach an agreement in October amid differences over pork, orange juice and other agricultural products from Mexico.
"We are not optimistic," Fukuda told a regularly scheduled news conference. "It seems that Mexico also has difficulties, and we have to see whether it's really possible to continue negotiations."
Fukuda declined to comment on the issues of contention.
His remark suggests, however, that the two countries may end up abandoning negotiations altogether.
When Mexican President Vicente Fox visited Japan in October, Mexico raised its demands on tariff-free orange juice quotas.
Japan refused to accept this position.
While agricultural imports are politically sensitive for Japan, they are also a politically important issue for Fox, whose public support is declining amid an ailing economy.
"There are conditions on both sides, and there is an issue of will about whether we really want to do it by overcoming those conditions," Fukuda said.
Meanwhile, trade minister Shoichi Nakagawa said that Japan's lack of an FTA with Mexico was damaging national interests.