Disappointment with U.S.-Japan Trade Deal
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The National Potato Council is very disappointed with the U.S.-Japan trade agreement reached last week.
NPC CEO Kam Quarles says President Trump was unable to finally open access to the Japanese market for U.S. fresh potatoes …
QUARLES … “We were very optimistic given all of the tariff leverage that President Trump had created, specifically on Japan.”
Unfortunately, Quarles says the meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Takaichi did not include any mention of U.S. fresh potato access …
QUARLES … “As he was meeting with the new Japanese Prime Minister, we were really hopeful that he was going to be able to get this fresh potato market access request that, again, is 30 years old, finally to the finish line.”
Moving forward, Quarles says it’s back to the grindstone …
QUARLES … “We know the market is there in Japan. We know that the technical hurdles to our accessing that market have been dealt with. And really, it’s just a question of, can the President break past this Japanese protectionism? If he can, it’s a $150 million a year in new U.S. ag exports.”
That, Quarles says would be a great way to immediately cut into a growing ag trade deficit built up in recent years.
