WASHINGTON (AP) American farmers have not only endured retaliatory tariffs from China and other nations, theyve watched as most of their top foreign competitors used free trade agreements to make inroads into Japan, a historically protectionist market with nearly 127 million consumers.
Now theyre wondering if the coming U.S.-Japan trade deal that President Donald Trump is showcasing will be as strong for farmers as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was negotiated under President Barack Obama and ditched by Trump as soon as he took office.
When Trump bailed on TPP, competitors such as Canada, Mexico and Australia forged ahead with a revamped version of the trade deal. Not wanting to be left out, the European Union reached its own free trade agreement with Japan. Both agreements went into effect at the beginning of this year.
The result: Top foreign competitors to American farmers get a pricing advantage after taking into account the 38.5% import tax that is applied to American beef, the 20% tariff applied to American ground pork and the 40% duty applied to some cheeses.
The changes have contributed to a new trade landscape that saw U.S. farm exports to Japan drop 2% to $6.5 billion in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to the Agriculture Department.
Weve taken a temporary step backward because our competitors have had better access than us, said Nick Giordano, a vice president at the National Pork Producers Council.
Giordano is hopeful that dynamic will change soon. The president, in need of some wins on the trade front, has said the U.S. and Japan have agreed in principle on a new trade pact that the two parties hope to make official later this month.
Trump announced the agreement a couple of days after he raised retaliatory tariffs on China and ordered American companies to consider alternatives to doing business there, moves that contributed to significant drops in the financial markets.
Weve agreed to every point, and now were papering it and well be signing it at a formal ceremony, Trump said.
