On the same day that President Trump said he expected increased agricultural exports to Japan, the chief U.S. agricultural negotiator told farmers in Iowa that more than 14 percent of U.S. farm exports have been or will be tagged with retaliatory tariffs in U.S. trade disputes with countries such as China and Mexico. Trump said during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday that he wanted to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.
“The prime minister was telling us just moments ago that they’re buying billions and billions of dollars of additional products of all kinds — military jets, airliners from Boeing, lots of farm products. We’re going to be doing a lot more business with Japan, which is what everybody wants to see,” said Trump. Abe did not mention trade during his opening remarks. Japan has protested U.S. import tariffs on its steel and aluminum as unfair treatment of an ally.
Japan is the fifth-largest market for U.S. ag exports, trailing only China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, in that order. All five countries have vowed to place duties on U.S. products, including farm exports, in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. At the start of this week, Mexico put a tariff of 10 percent — rising to 20 percent on July 5 — on U.S. pork shoulders and legs, which make up the lion’s share of imported U.S. pork. Mexico also acted against U.S. cheese, apples, and whiskey as well as steel and aluminum.
In a series of meetings in Iowa, chief U.S. agricultural negotiator Gregg Doud said that 14 percent of ag exports —worth roughly $20 billion — with pork the most prominent target, were caught in the trade disputes, reported Reuters. “The things now that we have to fix are very, very difficult,” said Doud. “This is going to get a little more difficult here in the short term.”
Trump is likely to go ahead with tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports that involve sensitive technology, Doud told reporters after a roundtable discussion at an Iowa farm. The United States is right to challenge China, he said, but agriculture traditionally is an early target in trade disputes, reported the Quad-City Times. “That’s going to probably continue to be the case,” Doud said. “My part, in discussing these with my boss, is to say, ‘Look, the best thing we can do in this environment is to play offense and work with other countries to expand our trading opportunities.’ There are always going to be these types of friction, but we’ve got to continue to play offense to open new markets.”
As an example, Doud said a new trade agreement with Japan could allow more U.S. farm exports. He did not offer a timeline for an agreement.
The Ames Tribune quoted Doud as telling the group of farm and industry officials, “What you’re going to see is the president of the United States announce here any day, as the situation progresses, we’re going to impose tariffs, up to potentially $50 billion, against a very specific set of high-tech industries in China.”