Japan doubts US serious about increasing rice exports

Japanese Agriculture Minister Taki Eto has cast doubt on whether the United States, which has criticized Tokyo for allegedly imposing high tariffs on American rice, is “really serious about expanding exports” of the product, and whether increasing purchases of U.S. rice will actually lead to food security.

“I have serious doubts about whether this (increasing U.S. rice imports – ed.) will lead to food security or solve people’s concerns about the future. I understand that consumers want to import U.S. rice if it is cheap, but if we rely on foreign sources of rice, a staple food that we can produce ourselves, domestic production may decline significantly,” the minister stressed during a press conference on Tuesday.

According to Eto, he has doubts about the seriousness of the U.S. intentions to increase rice exports. The minister also refrained from discussing the specific content of the negotiations on agricultural, forestry and fishery products, adding that he “has a proposal for a settlement,” but did not provide any details.

Earlier, the Yomiuri newspaper reported that Japan could propose to the United States to increase imports of American rice and soybeans during negotiations, as well as consider easing certification for cars for use in the Japanese market.

On April 2, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order introducing “reciprocal” duties on imports from other countries. The basic minimum rate will be 10%. At the same time, most countries will face higher rates, which, as the Office of the US Trade Representative explained, were calculated based on the US trade deficit with a specific country – so that there would be a balance instead of a deficit. For Japan, the rate was set at 24%.

On April 9, Trump announced that the US was suspending the introduction of mirror duties for more than 75 countries for 90 days.

Tags: USA, Japan, rice