As the import volume of American beef exceeded the standard set by the Japan-US Trade Agreement this year, the government implemented a measure called "safeguard" on the 18th to protect domestic producers, and American beef Tariffs have been raised from the previous 25.8% to 38.5%.
Imports of American beef reached 242,229 tons from April last year to the 10th of this month, exceeding the standard quantity of 242,000 tons for this year stipulated in the Japan-US Trade Agreement.
For this reason, the government launched a safeguard, a measure to protect domestic producers, on the 18th, raising tariffs on American beef from the previous 25.8% to 38.5%.
The period will be 30 days until the 16th of next month, and the safeguard for beef will be activated for the first time since August 2017, which was implemented under the WTO = World Trade Organization agreement.
Frozen beef from the United States is mainly used for commercial purposes in beef bowl stores and convenience store lunch boxes, and refrigerated beef is used in yakiniku stores and mainly sold in supermarkets.
However, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says that the period of tariff increase is short, inventory is already secured, and even if it is passed on to retail prices, the impact will be limited.
In response to this situation, Japan and the United States are supposed to start discussions within 10 days on the criteria for invoking safeguards from the new year onward, and the Japanese government wants to determine how the Biden administration will come out.