October 4, 2019 – The United States and Japan have reached an agreement regarding negotiations in market access for certain agriculture and industrial goods, as well as digital trade.
90 percent of U.S. food and agricultural products imported into Japan will either be duty free or receive preferential tariff access. Under the agreement, Japan will:
- Reduce tariffs on products such as fresh and frozen beef and pork.
- Provide a country-specific quota for wheat and wheat products.
- Reduce the mark-up on imported U.S. wheat and barley.
- Eliminate tariffs for almonds, walnuts, blueberries, cranberries, sweet corn, grain sorghum, broccoli, and more.
- Provide staged tariff elimination for products such as cheeses, processed pork, poultry, beef offal, ethanol, wine, frozen potatoes, oranges, fresh cherries, egg products, and tomato paste.
A separate agreement was reached addressing areas of digital trade which include:
- Prohibitions on imposing customs duties on digital products transmitted electronically.
- Ensuring non-discriminatory treatment of digital products.
- Ensuring barrier-free cross-border data transfers in all sectors.
- Prohibit data localization requirements.
- Prohibit arbitrary access to computer source code and algorithms.
- Ensure firms’ flexibility to use innovative encryption technology in their products.
The United States looks forward to further negotiations with Japan for a comprehensive agreement that addresses any remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers to achieve fairer, more balanced trade.
If you have any questions regarding the US – Japan Trade Agreement, Livingston can help! Please contact either your Livingston account manager or our regulatory affairs group at usregaffairs@livingstonintl.com