WASHINGTON (September 25, 2019) – House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Chairman Jim Costa of California issued the following statements Tuesday on the release of details contained in a tariff reduction agreement between the United States and Japan.

Chairman Peterson

“The past two years have underscored just how important global trade is to agriculture and rural communities. I’m glad to see some progress made on tariff reductions in this agreement that will help American farmers and ranchers catch up on some of the access we lost when the Administration pulled us out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” said Peterson. “It’s only a piece of the puzzle though, and additional agreements with Japan will be needed to make all of US agriculture competitive. I look forward to working with Ambassador Lighthizer, Ambassador Doud, and Secretary Perdue to address the remaining challenges with Japan and to open and restore other international markets for U.S. agriculture.” 

Subcommittee Chairman Costa

“As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture and a Representative from California where we export nearly half of our agricultural production, I welcome the announcement of tariff reductions for US agricultural exports to Japan. For too long, we’ve watched the other eleven TPP nations make deals that left us on the outside looking in, but this agreement will be a step toward regaining some of what we’ve lost,” added Costa. “However, the job is not done. The President said we’d get better deals from bilateral deals, but here we are, with some commodities getting less than what we would have gotten in TPP. Going forward, I expect the Administration to work closely with Congress and comply with all requirements of Trade Promotion Authority as we complete new trade agreements that are good for American agriculture.”