Japan Trade and U.S. Red Meat Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The Trump administration recently announced the U.S.-Japan Trade and Investment Agreement after Japan sent its top tariff negotiator to Washington, D.C., to finalize the details.
When the agreement was announced, Dan Halstrom, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, was in Tokyo, where he noted a profound sense of relief in Japan, the number two value market for American pork and beef exports …
HALSTROM … “I think there was a bit of relief in the Japanese trade, having met with several importer/distributors and of course some our member exporters as well while I was there.”
Other deals, Halstrom says kind of cleared the way …
HALSTROM … “You know, I think the fact that a deal had been done on autos, which is obviously one of the big sticky points with Japan, kind of laid to rest any concerns there might have been on possible retaliation from the Japanese side should a deal not have been reached.”
So, bottom line, Halstrom says this is a big deal …
HALSTROM … “So, when you’re talking about your second largest export market in the world, 2024, we saw about $1.9 billion on beef and about $1.4 billion on pork, for a total of about $3.3 billion in sales. And it’s been pretty consistent right in that range.”
Tune in tomorrow for how the 2020 U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, during President Trump’s first term, impacted America’s red meat exporters this time.
