The United States and Japan outlined initial details of an agriculture trade deal on September 25, as the countries work on details of a broader accord in the coming months. The agreement was signed by US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a bilateral meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly sessions.
“Under the market access agreement, we’re announcing today Japan will open new markets to approximately $7 billion of American agricultural products,” Trump told reporters. “This is a huge victory for America’s farmers, ranchers and growers, and that’s very important to me. It’s very important that you report this news as opposed to not reporting it.”
Under terms of the deal, producers of frozen US poultry will be among those who will benefit from staged tariff elimination.
“Frozen chicken products will receive favorable tariff reductions enabling our products to compete more effectively with those countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” said National Chicken Council (NCC) President Mike Brown. The Washington, DC-headquartered trade association represents American chicken producers. Member companies of the council account for more than 95% of the chicken sold in the United States.
“While final details regarding agriculture still need to be worked out, today’s signing is welcome news and we would like to thank President Trump, Secretary Perdue and Secretary Lighthizer for their work negotiating trade deals that stand to benefit US chicken,” added Brown.According to the USDA, chicken exports from the United States to Japan in 2018 amounted toe 19,265 metric tons valued at $32.5 million. Fully removing tariffs would further boost the US industry and lead to increased exports of chicken products.
Other frozen foodstuffs subject to tariff reductions include beef, pork and value-added potato products. In turn, the US will provide tariff elimination or reduction on 42 tariff lines for agricultural imports from Japan valued at $40 million in 2018, including products such as persimmons, green tea, chewing gum and soy sauce.
Japan ranks as the third-largest agricultural market for American exporters, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Last year it imported $13 billion worth of American farm products, including corn, soybeans and wheat as well as meat.
