As US beef imports are certain to exceed this year's standards set by the US-Japan trade agreement, the government will soon implement a "safeguard" measure to raise tariffs to protect domestic producers. It is expected to be activated.
Under the Japan-US Trade Agreement, Japan will gradually reduce tariffs on American beef, while invoking a measure called "safeguard" that raises tariffs when imports from the United States exceed the standard. It has become.
The standard for this year set by the trade agreement is 242,000 tons, but the import volume of American beef reached more than 233,000 tons as of the end of February, and according to the people concerned, it will continue to increase and the standard will be set within the month. It means that it is certain that it will exceed.
As a result, the government is expected to soon implement a "safeguard" to raise tariffs to protect domestic producers.
In that case, tariffs on US beef imports will be raised from the current 25.8% to 38.5% for 30 days from the date of activation.
The amount of beef imported into Japan this year is lower than the previous year as a whole due to the influence of the new coronavirus, but imports from the United States have increased due to the decrease in beef production in Australia. Is in the background.
Once the safeguard is activated, Japan and the United States will begin discussions within 10 days on future measures.
This time, if the safeguard for American beef is activated, it will be the first time since 2017, which was implemented based on the WTO = World Trade Organization agreement.