What The US-Japan Trade Deal Means For The Meat Industry

The U.S. meat industry is applauding a new trade deal with Japan as American farmers and ranchers have better access to the Asian country.

What Happened With The US-Japan Trade Agreement

U.S. President Donald Trump signed the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement in October and his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, added his signature to the deal on Wednesday. As part of the food and agricultural part of the trade agreement, Japan will either eliminate tariffs, meaningfully reduce tariffs, or allow specific imports at low duty.

Data from the U.S. Department of Agricultural says Japan imported $14.1 billion worth of food and agricultural products from American companies in 2018. However, only $5.2 billion worth of the goods were imported with no duty.

The trade agreement calls for an additional $7.2 billion of U.S. food and agricultural products to see reduced or eliminated tariffs.

Why It's Important For The Meat Industry

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is praising the new trade deal. USMEF president and CEO Dan Halstrom told Supermarket Perimeter the trade deal Trump signed into law is "one of the biggest development sin the history of red meat trade."

Out of every international market, Japan delivers the single biggest benefit to U.S. farmers and ranchers, Halstrom said.

Now that the most senior levels of U.S. and Japan's government approved the trade deal, the agreement will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

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