U.S. farm groups celebrated anew on Monday Japan’s agreement to reduce or eliminate tariffs on $7.2 billion worth of American beef, pork, poultry, wheat, cheese, wine, ethanol, and other goods. President Trump hosted a ceremonial signing at the White House of agricultural and digital trade pacts with Japan and urged congressional approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“Hopefully, that [USMCA] will get done in the not-too-distant future,” said Trump before Japanese Ambassador Shinsuke Sugiyama and U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer signed the documents. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump signed an unofficial agreement on Sept. 25 on the sidelines at the United Nations, in an event overshadowed by the impeachment inquiry. Sugiyama said he and Lighthizer had signed the official final text of the agreements.
The White House described the agriculture agreement as “a tremendous victory for American farmers” in terms of access to the No. 3 market for farm exports. The agreement, which is to take effect on Jan. 1, would put U.S. products on the same footing as those from competitors, such as Canada and Australia, that are part of the so-called TPP-11 free trade agreement that took effect in December 2018.
“The Trump-Abe accord in fact seems to fall short of matching TPP access for U.S. dairy products and rice. It thus only partly heals the self-inflicted wound of withdrawing from the TPP,” said Jeffrey Schott of the Peterson Institute of International Economics. Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership soon after taking office in 2017. Schott said Japan had refused to give a country-specific import quota for rice to the United States. Dairy exporters are concerned that U.S. cheese could run afoul in Japan of EU claims to the exclusive use of the names, such as Parmesan or Roquefort, of cheeses that were developed in Europe.
“This agreement means sharply lower tariffs on our farm and ranch exports with the promise of more to come,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, who stood at Trump’s left shoulder during the White House event. Vince Peterson, president of export-promoter U.S. Wheat Associates, said, “As we hoped, the text confirms that the agreement will put U.S. wheat back on equal footing with wheat from Canada and Australia when it is implemented.”