Pacific Rim nations including the US, Canada, Singapore, and Mexico have been negotiating for years to come up with a trade treaty that would radically reduce tariffs and other trade barriers throughout the region. Japan has announced its desire to join the talks, but has yet to do so. One reason is the ferocious opposition of the farm lobby, which benefits from tariffs on imported rice of 341 yen ($4.35) per kilogram. Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement as it is envisioned, those tariffs would disappear. Japan's farms, often only an acre or two in size, would then be overwhelmed by the super-efficient, large-scale agribusinesses of the US, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. The contribution of Japanese farmers to Japan's $5.9 trillion gross domestic product is tiny. Yet the farmers wield disproportionate clout in Japanese politics.