Japan & Mexico Launch Free-Trade Pact ff

Japan and Mexico launched a free trade agreement Friday after nearly three years of discussions and delays, with Tokyo hoping to boost exports of autos and electronics to North America and Mexico betting it can lure investment and export more tuna and farm products. The new pact could boost Japanese investment in the Mexican bluefin tuna farming sector.

Mexican Economy Minister Fernando Canales arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, and was scheduled to attend a brief ceremony later Friday with top Japanese officials before they convene a joint committee to decide steps to effectively boost two-way trade, the Foreign Ministry said.

The free trade pact, signed last September, will immediately eliminate 91 percent of Japan's tariffs on Mexican goods and 40 percent of Mexico's tariffs on Japanese goods. Other tariffs will be reduced gradually over the next 10 years.

Japan is seeking to boost its shipments of autos, steel and electronics, while Mexico hopes to attract an additional $1.2 billion a year in Japanese investments, generate new jobs and crack open the Japanese market for bluefin and yellowfin tuna, pork, and avocados.

Japan’s only other free trade agreement is with Singapore. Shipments between the two countries have been limited.

Last year, Japan’s exports to Mexico were $5.2 billion, or 0.9 percent of its worldwide total of $572 billion. In 2003, Mexico exported $1.8 billion in goods to Japan, a fraction of its roughly $170 billion in exports that year and tiny compared to exports of $149.6 billion to the United States.

Mexican officials said they expect exports to Japan to increase by more than 10 percent a year and want Japanese investment in Mexico could nearly triple from about $450 million a year.

Japanese import tariffs on most Mexican produce will be lowered over three to seven years. Tariffs for bananas will be reduced over 10 years.