Japan to promote farm exports after trade deal with U.S.

October 1, 2019

Tokyo--The Japanese government adopted Tuesday a basic policy for domestic measures to be taken in response to a recently finalized Japan-U.S. trade deal that features the promotion of exports of agriculture, forestry and fishery products.

Under the policy, the government will also work on strengthening the production bases for such products, supporting companies operating businesses abroad and bolstering the competitiveness of domestic industries.

The government will revise as early as this autumn its existing basic policy outlines for domestic measures that were drawn up for coping with the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact.

"It's necessary to stay attentive to farmers' concerns and take all possible measures to address them," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a meeting of a related task force.

Economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference that both Japan and the United States will have business opportunities under the bilateral trade deal, which turned out to be a "win-win pact."

Under the deal, Japan will open its markets to U.S. products to levels afforded to TPP member states, reducing in stages its tariffs on U.S. beef from the current 38.5 pct to 9 pct, for example.

Meanwhile, the United States will expand a low-tariff import quota for Japanese beef and abolish or cut tariffs on Japanese persimmons, melons and other agricultural products, plus industrial goods excluding automobiles and auto parts. Jiji Press