Kirk Asks Japan To Change

The top U.S. trade negotiator says Japan needs to do more to open its market to U.S. insurers.

“Normalizing trade for U.S. beef and securing a level playing field for U.S. insurance providers are two issues that remain of serious concern,” U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk says in a statement about a review of U.S. Japan regulatory reform and competition policy efforts. “I look to Japan to ensure these concerns are addressed as quickly as possible.”

Kirk, an Obama administration appointee, was mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2002.

U.S. and Japanese negotiators have included discussions in their progress report of topics such as the Japanese rules governing bank insurance sales programs and the Japan Post Insurance privatization initiative.

The authors of the report note, for example, that Japan says the same regulations now apply both to Japanese Post Insurance and to private insurers, and that it has been making the efforts necessary to tell consumers that the Japanese government no longer backs Japanese Post insurance products.