Although reluctant to talk about it, it was clear that trade policy issues weighed heavy on Auburn, NE, pork producer Chuck Knipe’s mind in a Sept. 7 interview with DTN.
“We’re continuing to work hard on a trade deal with Japan,” Knipe said between a trade seminar and a beef and pork tasting event during a recent U.S. Meat Export Federation- (USMEF) coordinated trade trip to Japan.
“We’re always looking for growth,” he said.
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Executive Vice President and CEO Eldon White was more explicit. White said his association’s members were very disappointed when U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership would have put us on par with Australia,” he said.
From its coming into effect in January 2015, under the Australia-Japan free trade agreement, Japan’s 38.5 percent import tariff on beef will drop to 23.5 percent for Australian chilled beef within 15 years. The tariff for Aussie frozen beef will fall to 19.5 percent within 18 years.
Knipe and White were on a two-day visit to the Japanese capital, after spending two days in the commercial hub of Osaka City. The trip included 20 U.S. beef, pork, corn, and soybean growers and association representatives.
The group went to retail outlets, met with food service and trade executives, visited a meat processor and retail outlet, and gave seminars to consumers and trade representatives.
Explaining the reason why corn and soybean exporting representatives came along with meat trade reps, USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng said 60 percent to 70 percent of the cost of raising meat goes to feed. “If you export more beef and pork, you’re going to export more corn and soybeans,” Seng said.
White said they met with meat purveyors and talked about trade negotiations, with a lot of focus on “What’s next?” after the U.S. withdrawal from the TPP. He asked a large Japanese meat processor if new negotiations would start with a blank sheet or would be based on the TPP framework.
White said he was told it would not be a blank piece of paper, but he did not know if it would be the TPP framework.
From a soybean standpoint, it is important to continue export relations regardless of the political situation, said Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council Chairman Patrick O’Leary.
“I think, internationally, our organization has spent a lot of time communicating bilaterally, inviting people to the U.S. as well as visiting their countries and telling them how they can be more efficient,” he said.
Nebraska Corn Board Board of Directors member David Merrell echoed O’Leary. “That’s why we’re here. We came to talk about the quality, consistency and accessibility of our products,” Merrell said. “We want to assure Japan that we are a valuable (trade) partner and that we will continue to do that.”
Seng said USMEF is very concerned with the harm U.S. withdrawal from the TPP could do to trade. “We are doing very well, and we don’t want to interrupt that,” he said.
Meat exporters to Japan can certainly rejoice in the fact that the Japanese government has a stance opposite to the public health discourse in the U.S., where people are told to rely more on fish than meat for protein. “The Japanese government has advised seniors to eat more meat protein,” White said.
The trade visit was held jointly with celebrations of USMEF’s 40th anniversary in Japan. “We’ve had 40 years, and we want to have at least 40 more,” Knipe said. — Richard Smith, DTN Tokyo Correspondent
