- 04 Apr, 2021
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Japan Rice Trade
Assignment
You are a member of the trade delegation negotiating a new trade agreement between the U.S. government and the Japanese government over rice imports into Japan.
Assume that this final negotiation is taking place after a long, arduous year of determining how much foreign rice the Japanese Trade Ministry (along with the Japan Food Department—JFD) plans to buy in the future. You are negotiating in terms of how much imported rice (in percentage of Japan’s total rice consumption) should enter the Japanese market. You need to settle on the % per year OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. The Japanese have effectively been able to “defer” resolving the issue and implementing any agreement. The U.S. feels they must have the Japanese “make good” on their promise to gradually open their market. The final agreement can and should include other elements besides the percentage of imported rice that both teams think relevant.