The National Pork Producers Council and the U.S. Dairy Export Council Friday welcomed Japan's request to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and urged the U.S. and TPP partners to accept the country into regional trade talks.
NPPC says Japan's economy is second only to China's in the region, and it is the fourth largest U.S. agricultural export market overall. U.S. food and agricultural exports to Japan in 2012 totaled $13.5 billion. Japan is also the top value export market for U.S. pork accounting for almost $2 billion in 2012 sales.
Its budding economy could increase the importance of the TPP to pork producers and other sectors, said NPPC President Randy Spronk.
Dairy Export Council and National Pork Producers say Japanese inclusion could provide significant trade benefits
"Japan's entry into the negotiations will spur interest in the TPP among other countries in Asia and Latin America, and it will signal to other nations that efforts to negotiate more open and transparent trading arrangements will continue, even as multilateral efforts to do so are stymied," Spronk added.
U.S. Dairy Export Council President Tom Suber agreed, noting the increase in economic significance Japan could bring.
"Along with Canada's recent announcement that it will join the talks, Japan's involvement will add additional potential for greater U.S. dairy exports, which will supplement the opportunities in existing TPP participants' markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia," Suber said.
Concerns with speed
Japan's entry at this stage of the talks has sparked concern that it could slow the pace of negotiations with the potential to delay or derail the ambitious outcome that the current members are seeking, USDEC says.
"As is the case with Canada, Japan is a large and profitable market that could provide immediate and measurable benefits for U.S. dairy producers and processors, but only if negotiators achieve real, tangible market access," said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for strategic initiatives and trade policy, National Milk Producers Federation and USDEC. "Japan would not only need to loosen its restrictive market access scheme, but also liberalize its complex quota system and address non-tariff trade concerns, such as how its food additive approval system currently operates."