Pork Council Urges Elimination of Japanese Import Price Monitoring Barrier
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should continue to prioritize Japanese pork tariff elimination in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but should also not lose sight of insisting on the removal of the Japanese Gate Price, said National Pork Producers Council…
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President Howard Hill in an Aug. 14 letter to USTR Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The Gate Price system is a price monitoring system that addresses the country's different pork tariff rates, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says (here). Japanese officials continue to enforce a protectionist non-tariff trade barrier through the system, said Hill. So far in the negotiations, the Japanese have been unwilling to concede both comprehensive pork tariff elimination and the Gate Price removal, said Hill. “There are compelling factors in Japan that weigh strongly in favor of abolishing the Gate Price,” Hill added. “There is a long history of fraud and criminal activity surrounding the Gate Price -- with some Japanese importers inflating invoices to prices above the Gate Price to minimize import duties -- that has been well documented in the Japanese press.”