A joint statement released by a number of US farm groups is calling for Japan to be excluded from further discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if the country continues to say it will shield its primary agricultural products from competition and not abolish certain tariffs.

The comments come following reports that Japanese Minister of the Economy Akira Amari told other countries involved in the TPP that Japan will not abolish tariffs on its five “sacred” agricultural sectors at a TPP meeting in Singapore.

The five sectors are dairy, sugar, rice, beef, pork and wheat and barley.

The statement said Japan’s decision would encourage other countries in the partnership to withhold their sensitive sectors and could lead to an end of a comprehensive partnership agreement.

However, the farm groups claim US negotiators still have a chance to get through to Japan.

“Failing that, the alternative is suspending negotiations with Japan for now and concluding a truly comprehensive agreement with those TPP partners that are willing to meet the originally contemplated level of ambition,” the National Association of Wheat Growers, US Wheat Associates, USA Rice Federation, the National Pork Producers Council and the International Dairy Foods Association said in a statement. “It is a big step but one that will be justified if Japan continues to refuse to open its agricultural sector to meaningful competition.”