May 24 (LPAC)--In the midst of tendentious carping over the "free trade" rules of the WTO bylaws by WTO officials and British types in the Bush Administration, humanitarian reason has won out.

Japan will "favorably" consider a request from the Philippines for the release of 200,000 tonnes of imported rice amid severe rice shortages on the global market after U.S. and Japanese officials met at the technical level Friday to discuss ways in which the two countries can take steps to address global hunger and bring stability to the global rice market, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said in a statement.

The Japanense government had been publicly discussing the release of this rice for the Philippines for some days now, but because of the WTO, it required U.S. approval before releasing the rice.

The US is "supportive" of Japan's initiative, USTR spokeswoman Hamel said. "Both countries agreed on the need to act expeditiously" and plan to continue talks in the coming weeks, she said.

Under world trading rules, the United States could have tried to block the re-export of rice that had already been imported from the United States. Almost two-thirds of the imported rice in Japanese government warehouses came from the United States. But, we recognize these are extraordinary times, said an American official. We don't have a problem with using it for humanitarian purposes. The official agreed to speak only if his name was not used, because of the delicate nature of the issue.

Separately, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Friday that Japan will release 20,000 tonnes of rice for developing countries in Africa and elsewhere to help ease food shortages.

"Free trade" is not what you would think it is, if you go by WTO rules. Japan is forced to import about 770,000 tons of rice a year from the U.S. and other countries according to the rules. Japan has put much of the imported rice in warehouses at an annual cost to the government of $144 million, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, and eventually use it for animal feed, since the Japanese wish only to eat Japanese-grown rice. "Lawyers at the WTO's headquarters have been arguing strenuously this week over whether Japan can re-export [this] rice, and have not come to a consensus," so Japan felt it necessary to get the U.S. approval to re-export the rice it originally imported from the U.S. "Free," indeed.