U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Ted McKinney is in Japan on a trade mission this week. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Kevin Kester says he’s leading one of the largest trade groups ever. McKinney is expected to talk to the Japanese about a possible bilateral deal with the U.S. Kester says that may be a hard sell.
He says Japan is more interested in pushing the United States to get involved in the Trans Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement rather than looking at any bilateral pact.
Kester says while bilateral agreements are a possibility the main problem is they take a lot of time to achieve.
He says that tariff advantage keeps growing every year and once the current drought ends in Australia, they’ll be in a position to capture most of that Japanese market and leave the U.S. out in the cold.
