Japan may open beef in TPP trade talks

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may sacrifice barriers protecting Japan’s beef and wheat farmers as he joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, said a former government adviser on farm policy.

Japan will fight to maintain tariffs on rice, sugar and dairy products, said Shinichi Shogenji, an agricultural science professor at Nagoya University who was chairman of the food security advisory panel for the Cabinet in 2007 during Abe’s first term as leader. The prime minister will announce Japan’s entry to the TPP negotiations today, according to a government official who asked not to be named ahead of the statement.