The U.S. and Japan have officially signed an agreement to revise the beef safeguard mechanism under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement. On June 2, the nations agreed to update the beef safeguard level with a new three-trigger safeguard mechanism.
The agreement will allow beef exporters to more reliably meet Japan’s demand for U.S. beef, provide more predictability and reduce the probability of safeguard duties being imposed on U.S. beef, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The three-trigger mechanism is the following:
Imports from the U.S. must exceed the original beef safeguard trigger level under the U.S.-Japan Agreement,
the aggregate volume of beef imports from the U.S. and original signatories of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) must exceed the CPTPP beef safeguard,
and imports from the U.S. must exceed the total amount of beef imports from the U.S. during the previous year. The last trigger will be in effect until 2027.
