Potatoes to Japan-Wyden
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Japanese Prime Minister, Takaichi Sanae will be at the White House tomorrow to talk with President Trump, and a bipartisan list of lawmakers are hoping that gaining fresh U.S. potatoes access to Japan is part of the discussion.
Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Idaho’s Mike Crapo wrote a letter, signed by 66 of their colleagues, encouraging the President to make this a priority …
WYDEN … “That’s why Senator Crapo and I pushed so hard to get a lot of members of Congress on this, is that there has never been any scientific basis for Japan’s roadblocks. American potatoes are “spudtacular” as we say, and they’ve been enjoyed by people around the world.”
Japan, Wyden says has been resisting this for over 30 years …
WYDEN … “The reality is Japan is protecting its domestic growers. In fact, Japan has never opened its markets to potato imports from any country, and this is not policy, it is political. And to me, we’re going to make sure that both political parties are prioritizing this, and we get these exports into markets around the world.”
Wyden says our growers need more trade deals …
WYDEN … “We’re trying to make it safe in here, that any trade deal that fails to address trade barriers for specialty crops is missing the mark, period, full stop! And that’s coming from a Democrat and from a Republican.”
Fresh potato access to Japan could result in an estimated $150 million a year in new potato exports.
