Gov. Pete Ricketts is calling on Congress and the Trump administration to “redouble their efforts” to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with Japan after Japan announced Friday that it had raised its tariff to 50 percent on frozen beef from the United States.

One of the first acts of the Trump administration was to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which included Japan. Ricketts said that he would also like Congress and the Trump administration to address “... other agricultural market access issues similar to what would have been covered under the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

“Our beef community can rest assured these tariff rate increases will be at the forefront of our discussions in Japan,” he said.

Ricketts said that Japan’s tariff increase will have a serious economic impact on Nebraska’s beef community. Japan is Nebraska’s No. 1 export market for beef products, with a value of more than $316 million in 2016 alone.

According to Ricketts, the increase in the tariff rate will place Nebraska beef exports at an even greater competitive disadvantage with other countries with which Japan has free trade agreements, such as Australia and the European Union. He said it is anticipated that this will shift purchases from frozen to fresh, triggering beef safeguard tariff increases on fresh beef as well later this year, compounding the impact on Nebraska’s beef exports.

Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said that U.S. beef producers have already been placed at a competitive disadvantage in the Japanese market due to this country’s inaction on trade.

“Australia’s trade agreement with Japan has brought the tariff on its frozen beef down to 27 percent, compared to the nearly 40 percent tariff applied to U.S. beef,” Smith said. “Now, with this hike to 50 percent, our producers will face nearly double the tariff as their Australian counterparts.”

He has introduced a resolution in the U.S. House urging the Trump administration to begin the process of establishing a trade agreement with Japan.

“We know U.S. beef tastes better, and our efficient producers can meet demand from Japanese consumers if trade barriers are removed,” Smith said. “We can’t afford to wait any longer to work on a bilateral agreement with Japan.”

Smith serves on the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade policy. He introduced his resolution calling on the administration to begin negotiations for a trade agreement with Japan in March.

Steve Nelson, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said the tariff increase Japan announced for U.S. beef “is a big blow to Nebraska’s beef producers.”

He said that in 2016, Nebraska exported more than $316 million in beef and beef products to Japan, accounting for 16 percent of the total U.S. beef exports to this important customer.\

“What makes this action worse is that the United States recently walked away from an agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have rendered this action meaningless,” Smith said. “Now is the time for the Trump administration to follow through on their promise for a ‘better deal’ for Nebraska’s cattlemen and women, and now is the time for a bilateral agreement with Japan.”

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Craig Uden, a fourth-generation cattleman from Elwood, said his organization is “very disappointed to learn that the tariff on frozen beef imports to Japan will increase from 38.5 percent to 50 percent until April 2018.”

“Japan is the top export market for U.S. beef in both volume and value, and anything that restricts our sales to Japan will have a negative impact on America’s ranching families and our Japanese consumers,” Uden said.

NCBA opposes artificial barriers like these, he said, because they unfairly distort the market and punish both producers and consumers.

“Nobody wins in this situation,” Uden said. “Our producers lose access, and beef becomes a lot more expensive for Japanese consumers. We hope the Trump administration and Congress realize that this unfortunate development underscores the urgent need for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan absent the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

Japan was the top export market for U.S. beef, valued at $1.5 billion in 2016. According to data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation, first quarter U.S. beef sales to Japan this year increased 42 percent over 2016. In addition to the United States, the 50 percent safeguard tariff also applies to imports from Canada, New Zealand, and other countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Japan.