Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 2/9/17


Ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s state visit to Washington, D.C., the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) are urging President Trump to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with Japan.

In a joint letter sent Tuesday to the White House, NCBA and NPPC asked the president “to initiate free trade agreement negotiations with nations in the Asia-Pacific region beginning with Japan. … As you continue to lead America forward, we want to be a resource for your administration for possible strategies in improving existing and future trade agreements for the benefit of our producers.”

Abe will be in Washington Friday to meet with Trump on several matters, including security challenges and bilateral trade.
“A successful, comprehensive agreement with Japan would result in one of the greatest trade agreements for the U.S. pork and beef industries and for many other sectors,” said NCBA President Craig Uden.

For U.S. beef and pork exports, Japan is the highest value international market. In fiscal 2016, Japanese consumers purchased $1.4 billion of American beef products and $1.5 billion of American pork. Demand in the Asian nation for American beef and pork is strong despite Japanese tariffs and other import measures that limit market access for both products.

Under terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Japan’s 38.5 percent tariff on fresh and frozen beef would have been cut to 9 percent over the agreement’s phase-in period and would have given the U.S. beef industry parity with Australia in the Japanese market. Japan’s tariffs on pork, which are determined through a so-called gate price system, would have been substantially reduced as part of the TPP agreement.

An analysis by the U.S. International Trade Commission found that beef exports to TPP countries, which included the United States, Japan and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations, would grow by $876 million a year by the end of the phase-in period and that most of the growth would be in trade to Japan.

Likewise, it found that pork exports to TPP countries would grow by $387 million, with most of the exports going to Japan. Nearly 9,000 American jobs would be generated by increased exports of livestock products, according to the USDA’s export multiplier.

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