U.S. and Japan
Ambassador Emanuel's Statement on Passage of the USJTA Beef Safeguard Agreement
Today we celebrate another milestone in the U.S.-Japan commercial relationship, as the revised U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) beef safeguard agreement was passed by Japan’s House of Councilors. The new safeguard agreement requires specific criteria be met before additional tariffs can be applied to U.S. beef exports.
Thanks to our June agreement on this new safeguard mechanism, Japan’s importers have increasingly turned to American beef, making the United States Japan’s top supplier for the first time in more than 20 years and spurring an increase of almost 10 percent over last year’s record $2.4 billion in beef exports.