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Japan ups its tariff on frozen beef, US tariff jumps to 50 percent

The Japanese government has announced tariffs on frozen beef imports will increase dramatically.  Rising imports in Japan’s first quarter have triggered a safeguard that will increase tariffs from 38.5 percent to 50 percent on frozen beef products.  The tariff only affects exporters from countries that do not have free trade agreements with Japan currently in place, which includes the United States.

Phil Seng, president and CEO of the US Meat Export Federation tells Brownfield the US would not be in this situation had it signed on with the Trans Pacific Partnership.  “The safeguard that is being triggered would not apply because the current administration, under the 1994 agreement of the WTO, was quarterly,” he says.  “The TPP agreement was yearly and it was much more liberal as far as its terms.”

AUDIO: Phil Seng, USMEF

University of Missouri livestock market analyst Scott Brown says the announcement puts added pressure on the US to reach a bilateral trade agreement with Japan.

He says with a tariff of 50 percent, US beef now has a less attractive price point than some of its global competitors.  “I’m thinking about Australia and Japan and the bilateral agreement that they have reached,” he says.  “Because they no longer are under this frozen safeguard provision.  Their tariff on product remains at 27.2 percent – almost half the level of tariff our product will face.”

 

The new tariffs will begin August 1 and last through March 31, 2018.

U.S. exports of beef and beef products to Japan totaled $1.5 billion last year, making it the United States’ top market.