FORT WORTH, Texas — The Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association applauded the announcement that U.S. and Japanese trade officials have reached a tentative deal to ease Japan’s safeguard mechanism on U.S. beef imports.

Currently, if the U.S. sends too much beef to Japan in any given year, a safeguard mechanism will be triggered to protect Japan’s domestic beef producers. That mechanism increases the tariff on U.S. beef to 38.5%, a significant increase from the 25% agreed upon in the 2020 U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement.

If approved by the Japanese parliament, the updated agreement will add additional triggers that must be met before the tariff is increased. This will lower the likelihood of increased tariffs on U.S. beef going to Japan.

In 2021, Japan imported more than $2.3 billion in U.S. beef, making them the second-largest destination for U.S. beef, just slightly behind South Korea.

“Japan is consistently one of the largest importers of U.S. and Texas beef, so we are extremely pleased with the prospect of more certainty for U.S. beef producers and Japanese beef consumers alike,” said Hughes Abell, president of Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. “Reducing tariffs and trade disruptions will further strengthen demand for U.S. beef and generate long-term benefit for cattle producers despite our current market challenges.”