Victory of Mr. Trump in the US presidential election is similar to the tsunami which hit the Eastern region of Japan five years ago. The Trump tsunami has destroyed an embankment, or TPP, which is a US-Japan bilateral initiative to lay siege to China, and has astounded multinational corporations.


The Japanese government should immediately withdraw from the TPP agreement to reallocate relevant budgets.


BILATERAL NEGOTIATION WILL PRESSURE JAPAN TO PAY MORE


The epicenter of Trump tsunami is said to be located in the strata of poor whites living in the ‘Rust Belt’ (a zone of manufacturing industries in the United States) where unemployment and poverty are rampant due to de-industrialization.


Mr. Trump, relying on traditional Republican supporters (who involve in agriculture and stock farming) in the middle and south regions of the country, raised ‘Make America Great Again’ during the campaign. He has won in the election by claiming in agitation: exclusion of immigrants and Moslems, retreat from the TPP and NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement), promotion of shale revolution, a review over the US-Japan Security Treaty, withdraw from the Paris Agreement and huge tax reductions.


He has won despite a stance full of contradictions and deceptions. His victory comes from a fact that the US society is full of appalling inequality and poverty, dissatisfactions of citizens and workers betrayed by the Democratic Party and the Obama administration, antipathy to Hillary Clinton and anti-globalization feelings. Thus, policies Mr. Trump announces will not be kept for long time, instead, they will produce bigger contradictions.


TPP Withdrawal ? from Words to Actions


Now, let’s look at the TPP, or Trans Pacific Partnership initiative. He has clearly told withdrawal from the program during his campaign. His words will be without doubt put into action on the date of his inauguration. His statement does not mean an option, but a firm decision. Because he is well aware that the Republican Party bases on the agricultural and stock farming region of the United States where farmers are disgruntled with the influx of chicken, pork and beef from Canada, Mexico and Australia due to the NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement with Australia. He believes that the TPP means continuation of this trade practice and that that will aggravate the situation.


While the Abe government has ratified the trade pact with majority force in the Diet, Vietnam has retreated from it, Malaysia has shifted to RCEP (=Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, composed of China, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and ASEAN countries) initiative, and Peru expressed reluctance to TPP without US. The TPP project is adrift.


The more the Japanese government clings to ratification of the TPP, the more isolated the country will be in the Asian region and in the more disadvantageous position it will stand in the RCEP negotiation due to the delay.


Mr. Trump prefers bilateral negotiation. It is certain that he will demand more concessions and heavier burdens than those seen in the TPP talks so that he could defend benefit of US farmers, agri-business and export industries (medicines and medical equipment, insurance and investment industries). It is probable that TPP members will demand Japan to expand import sphere with additional requests. They know that Japan is the biggest market to satisfy the US.


Agreement destroys Japan


Though the TPP is an initiative to devastate Japan, the government ratified it.


We, the New Socialist Party demands:


- no more liberalization of agricultural and livestock products,
- opposition to globalism that yields inequality and poverty in order to secure sovereignty over agriculture and food production to improve self-sustainability of foodstuff, and
- impartial and fair trade rules that defend people’s life, health, environment and culture



December 13, 2016