Japan must negotiate on rice to join trade talks, US says

Japan must be willing to negotiate in all trade sectors, including politically sensitive ones like rice, if it wants to join the United States and 10 other countries in talks on a regional free-trade pact, the top US trade official said on Wednesday.

"We aren't going to begin the process by saying, 'Oh yeah, you get to have certain protected sectors or issues,'" US trade representative Ron Kirk said in an interview before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday.