US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has picked up his barbeque tongs to convey his message to Japan: Buy more US beef.
Perdue yesterday said that as a top consumer of US beef, Japan should treat the US fairly.
He said he hoped that US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would strike a trade deal during his boss’ visit to Japan this month, but acknowledged that more time might be needed.
“We’re saying treat us as a prime customer the way we treated Japanese products for many years,” Perdue told reporters after cooking some beef and pork on a Tokyo shopping mall rooftop, using his family’s barbecue sauce recipe.
Perdue also expressed impatience with the progress of trade talks that have been going on for more than two years.
“From my perspective and our farmers in America, I’d have preferred it done yesterday, but the reality is these things take time,” he said.
“Nothing has happened,” he said. “It’s time to get going.”
Japan’s limits on imports of meat and other farm products have been a recurring issue with the US.
The Trump administration is worried that Japan will buy more from other nations that have signed trade deals with Japan in the past few years, such as Australia and Europe.
Japan, a country of 126 million, is the fourth-largest market for US agricultural products.
Perdue, who visited Japan for a weekend meeting of farm officials of the G20 industrial nations, did not give specifics on timing, proposed tariff reductions or product sectors, saying those were up to trade negotiators.
“We should be treated as fairly as any other country with whom Japan has an agreement,” he said.
Japan logged a US$70 billion trade surplus with the US last year and the imbalance has long been a sore spot with its most important ally.
Alluding to US moves to penalize China in a dispute with Beijing over trade and technology, Perdue said the actions came about because China had not responded fairly in the negotiations.
He said he would send “a similar message to Japan.”
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