The U.S. and Japan in a joint statement said the two nations have made “initial progress” on trade issues. The statement comes as Vice President Mike Pence talked with Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister earlier this week. The Joint statement says some “initial progress” on bilateral trade issues such as lifting import restrictions on Japanese persimmons and Idaho potatoes, according to …
U.S., Japan, Planning Another Trade Meeting
Vice President Mike Pence is meeting with Japan Monday in Washington. D.C. to talk trade. Politico reports that Pence and Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister will meet for the second round of the U.S.-Japan economic dialogue launched by the Trump administration in the wake of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Japan is expected to propose to change …
Exports are Critically Important to the Pork Industry
Exports are critically important to the swine industry. With large hog supplies, National Pork Board CEO Bill Even believes the significance of foreign demand will only grow. U.S. pork is known for its quality. Even as part of a National Pork Board trade mission to Japan and China. These markets are very different. The Japanese market is a …
U.S. Ag Groups Want Intervention of GI Review
Farm and food groups want the Trump Administration to address a trade consideration between Mexico and Japan regarding geographical indications. Japan and Mexico are considering giving exclusive status to various European geographical food and drink names. In a letter to President Trump, the groups say that the European Union is currently negotiating with both nations on lists of protected geographical …
Japan Tariff Reduced U.S. Beef Exports
U.S. frozen beef exports to Japan are down 26 percent after Japan imposed an emergency tariff due to an influx of frozen beef from the United States. The tariff increased from 38.5 percent to 50 percent of the Japanese market, to protect domestic producers. Meat industry publication Meatingplace reports Japan’s frozen beef imports from the U.S. were 4,317 metric tons …
Dairy Industry Cautions Japan to Respect Current Trade Relationships
Japan’s agriculture officials must respect current market access between Japan and its trading partners, including the United States, when reviewing a list of geographical indications (GIs) proposed by the European Union (EU), or else risk disrupting one of the world’s largest consumer marketplaces, the U.S. dairy industry urged. In a letter to the Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, leaders …
Japan Interested in Multi-nation Trade Agreements, Not Bilateral Trade
Leaders from Japan told a Nebraska trade delegation last week that Japan is not interested in a bilateral trade agreement with the United States. Instead, Japan told Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts that the nation is holding out for the U.S. to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Ricketts says he is pressing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer …
U.S. Frozen Beef Tariff Increase Starts in Japan
Late last week, Japan announced its “safeguard” tariff on frozen U.S. beef, increasing the tariff from 38.5 percent to 50 percent. The new rate begins today, August 1, and will last through March 31, 2018. The United States beef industry says had the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement been in effect, or if the U.S. had a bilateral trade deal with …
Japan Beef Tariff Increase Highlights Need for Trade Agreement
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the increased tariff on beef imports to Japan underscores the “urgent need” for a bilateral trade agreement between Japan and the United States. Japan announced it would increase the tariff on frozen beef imports from 38.5 percent to 50 percent until April 2018. NCBA President Craig Uden says the tariffs “unfairly distort the market …
Secretary Perdue Regarding Japan’s Planned Increase of Tariff on U.S. Frozen Beef
The government of Japan has announced that rising imports of frozen beef in the first quarter of the Japanese fiscal year (April-June) have triggered a safeguard, resulting in an automatic increase in Japan’s tariff rate under the WTO on imports of frozen beef from the United States. The increase, from 38.5 percent to 50 percent, will begin August 1, 2017, …