Agriculture Interests Worry TPP Members Will Take US Market Share Without Japan FTA

Agriculture interests, including meat, wheat and grape growers, told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that they will lose market share to competitors in Australia, Europe, Canada, Mexico and Chile as those countries begin to benefit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and EU-Japan free trade agreement. As they testified Dec. 10 on negotiating a U.S.-Japan agreement, they said speed is of the essence.

Welch Foods said that Japan tariffs are 19.1 percent to 29.8 percent, and Chile and Mexico already have duty-free access through their FTAs. Next year, Italian and Spanish growers will get tariff-free access. U.S. Wheat Associates said the U.S.'s 53 percent market share faces "an immediate collapse" because the U.S. exited from TPP. "Our competitors in Australia and Canada will now benefit from those provisions, as U.S. farmers watch helplessly," said Vince Peterson, president of the group.

Japanese buyers purchased $1.9 billion in beef exports in 2017, National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Kevin Kester said, a quarter of all exports. There are high tariffs on beef imports, but Australia will see a gradual reduction in those tariffs, while importers of U.S. beef will still face them. Michael Beeman, assistant USTR for Japan, Korea and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), told the trade groups' representatives, "Certainly the message has come through loud and clear in respect to market access, in regard to timing."