President Trump on Monday signed the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, which is an important step forward with U.S. agriculture’s fourth-largest export market. The following may be attributed to American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall:
“Today’s signing marks the successful end to more than a year of negotiation between Japan and the United States. This agreement means sharply lower tariffs on our farm and ranch exports with the promise of more to come. And while we aren’t yet finished opening this market, the conclusion of these talks means we can now trade with Japan with the same advantages enjoyed by signers of the CP-TPP trade agreement. That’s great news.
“We hope the momentum from this win carries through to the negotiations with China this week and sets the stage for similar bilateral agreements with other countries involved with the CP-TPP. We appreciate this Administration’s efforts to improve trade opportunities for farmers.”
BACKGROUND
U.S. negotiators have been working to develop new trade agreements with Japan and other countries in the wake of U.S. withdrawal from the multinational Trans-Pacific Partnership process.
The Japan bilateral agreement keeps intact essentially all the trade benefits the United States would have gained in Japan under TPP.
The agreement immediately eliminates all tariffs on U.S. exports of sweet corn, almonds, broccoli and prunes, among other things. Other tariffs on products such as ethanol, cheese and whey, fresh cherries and other farm and ranch products will be phased out over a number of years.
The U.S. will also benefit from increased export quotas on products such as corn starch, malt, potato starch, fructose and more.
AFBF has further analysis concerning the agreement: https://www.fb.org/market-intel/japan-u.s.-agriculture-agreement-could-help-u.s.-catch-up-to-global-competi.
