There was a time when Japan was the largest foreign customer for US beef. That is no longer the case since Japan has imposed import restrictions on US beef. The issue is no longer making headlines today, but it has not been forgotten by the US beef industry. When Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack appeared last week before the Senate Ag Committee, he was questioned quite candidly by former Secretary of Ag Mike Johanns, now a Senator from Nebraska. Johanns pressed Vilsack on the longstanding trade dispute between the US and Japan over beef, “I hope you can convince me otherwise, but it seems like we are just not getting anywhere.” Vilsack admitted the situation was frustrating but tried to put a positive spin on things, “We are moving to a place where I think we can get to yes.”
But Johanns, who is very familiar with the negotiating with Japan, wasn’t buying the spin, “I would have said the exact same thing you just said 6 years ago, and I think Anne Veneman would have said the same thing before me.” When pressed, Vilsack could not offer any timetable for resolution except to say he hoped, after passage of the US Korea Free Trade Agreement, that there would be some momentum to address Japans restrictions on US beef.
In 2010, the US exported 91,486 tons of beef to Japan worth $470 million. In 2000, the US sold 546,010 million tons of beef to Japan worth $1.814 billion. Japan imposed strict import restrictions in 2004 when a single BSE cow was discovered in the US.
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