Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, and the President of the United States, Donald Trump. (Image via Business Insider)

U.S farmers want Trump to sign a deal with Japan

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
Politics
Sep 06, 2019
1811
The trade war between the United States (U.S) and China turns out affecting the life of the U.S farmers. Due to the 25% tariff hike imposed by the President of the U.S, Donald Trump, on about US$300 billion of the U.S products in China, China also imposed additional retaliatory tariffs on the U.S farm products and they also refused to buy products from the U.S farm.

Previously, the U.S was also included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, signed by the 44th President of the U.S, Barack Obama. After Donald Trump took the mantle, he made the U.S walked out of the deal in early 2017.

However, in 2018, Trump stated that the U.S “might” come back to the TPP. When Obama signed the TPP agreement, the American Farm Bureau Federation had once predicted that it would benefit the U.S farmers as much as US$4.4 billion annually.

Vice president at the National Pork Producers Council, Nick Giordano, said that Japan is “very important” for the U.S, noting that Japan is the largest pork importer from the U.S. But, in the first quarter of 2019, the percentage of exports from the U.S to Japan dropped by 2% to US$6.5 billion, compared to the same period in 2018. The U.S imposed a 20% tax hike on its ground pork.

Tokyo is certain that Japan and the U.S will take a deal later in the 74th United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York. The Japanese officials stated their hope that the agreement would somehow nullify Trump’s tariff.

While the U.S beef was having a good time in Japan, the tariff made it harder for the Japanese to enjoy the juiciness of the beef. Compared to the Australian beef’s tariff at 26.6%, the U.S imposed 38.5% on their beef and 40% on the U.S cheese. This makes Japan want to look for other importers than the U.S.

Seeing Japan as the new battlefield for farm products, Giordano stated that the deal taken between the U.S and Japan would bring back the U.S back on track. After withdrawing from TPP, the U.S sales rate declined, beaten by its rivals from TPP and EU.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/politics/us-farmers-hope-trump-delivers-on-trade-deal-with-japan/

Politics , Economy , Dairy , Meat , U.S , Japan , TPP , Trade-war , Donald-Trump , Shinzo-Abe