politics

American farmers hail U.S.-Japan trade deal to gain competitiveness

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Just so you know what kind of "quality" products you're getting from farmers in the States, all that corn (over 90%) is GMO seed. The fields, before planting, are covered in the feces of millions of people from the cities. Then those same plants are sprayed repeatedly with cancer causing and bee killing pesticides. After harvest, the "product" is stored in giant silos where molds and rodents have some fun. Yup, please buy some more.

Wow, like someone here has some serious issues! Even a Hollywood writer couldnt come up with a story line like this!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The fields, before planting, are covered in the feces of millions of people from the cities. 

I am not a fan of most US agriculture, but that's a ridiculous statement. Have you ever actually been to a farm?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I think that this deal is a good one for all, but does not solve the underlining issue. Tariffs on imported rice into Japan are too high.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

he fields, before planting, are covered in the feces of millions of people from the cities. Then those same plants are sprayed repeatedly with cancer causing and bee killing pesticides

where did you get that info at, please do tell. You cant use human waste for fertilizer because it has animal proteins in it. As far as the pesticides, did you know that Japanese tea growers use so much herbicides that its all but impossible to import it to the US?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

American beef is yucky.I prefer getting Aussie beef or Japanese. 

Purely a matter of choice, and here in Japan, US beef is very popular! Aussie beef is seen by many as being "cheap" or lower quality. But again, it's all a matter of personal choice.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I didn't know the existing tariff on beef was 38.5%. That is huge. It would mean the 210 yen/100g roasts in Costco are 152 yen before the tariff. I don't like eating beef because of global warming concerns, but it is tasty and my kids love it. I usually use it in stews. For barbecue, I much prefer Japanese/Korean style yakiniku to steak/roast beef.

Sweetcorn on the cob, a true summer highlight, loses sweetness as soon as it is picked. There is no way high quality corn is coming from the US. It'll be animal feed and nasty high-fructose sweeteners.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Just so you know what kind of "quality" products you're getting from farmers in the States, all that corn (over 90%) is GMO seed. The fields, before planting, are covered in the feces of millions of people from the cities. Then those same plants are sprayed repeatedly with cancer causing and bee killing pesticides. After harvest, the "product" is stored in giant silos where molds and rodents have some fun. Yup, please buy some more.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

I'm jealous of Americans, you have trump, we have abe a useless liar.

oh ok one liar seems to cancel out the other bigger liar in "delusional land"

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Much, much cheaper US beef, pork and dairy goods taxed at same rate as CPTPP members

yep exactly Japan US FTA is almost identical to the TPP so when the need to pull out of it in the first place, now American companies have to play catch up on market share lost to its rivals. They wouldnt have lost any if they stayed in the TPP. Must be that Trump master negotiating skills we hear so much about

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The details of this deal hasn't come out yet. The one thing I can thank Trump for is pulling the US out of the TPP. While the TPP was a great and would have done a lot of good, it would have increased medical costs around the world because it would have strangled generic forms of medication with the copyright portion of the TPP.

This new deal won't necessarily increase the amount of American imports but rather reduce the cost of them which will effectively make them cheaper to buy in Japan.

As for beef loving people. You need to educate yourself on the types of beef and how different types of beef is used. Australians stylize their breeding and cutting methods off of the Japanese. The increased marbaling in Japanese beef is why its better in smaller portions but doesn't do better when it comes to briskett, round steaks, or larger sized meals. What you make heavily affects what style of beef you use.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This will not lower Abe’s approval rate in Japan.

1) 90% of dent corn import has already been from America. Adding more from America is not a big deal.

2) This makes China’s counter measures of rejecting on US corn import ineffective. Which is good for Japan too.

3) US beef and Japanese beef has different use in Japan. Yoshinoya can’t make beef bowl with Japanese beef it has to be American beef.

No big lose on Japan side. Also needless to mention what didn’t happen in France, such as US putting pressure on Japan as currency manipulator which gives Japan more room for QE.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I'm jealous of Americans, you have trump, we have abe a useless liar.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

More corn to Japan. Or high fructose corn syrup?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

And Japan's benefit is...?

Moah corn of course!

Never can have enough I say...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Trump is making deals! Contrast that to Mr. Eloquent, the prince of the left Obama, only thing he did with Abe was have sushi in a swanky shop and talk about nothing. Never thought the day would come where we had a politician who gives a damn about the U.S.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

LOL, most of Japanese agri ventures today are completely worthless on the world stage,

Nonsense. This is only true of you see agriculture as a commodity, where the cheapest sells most (with little though of quality). Japan does export to upper end of the market. Admittedly, that's a small market, but it's more profitable. Commodity agriculture is a primary industry. As long as American farmers can use water without paying a fair price for it and use illegal labor from Mexico, they will do OK. But both of those are drying up - the first one literally.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

And Japan's benefit is...?

Much, much cheaper US beef, pork and dairy goods taxed at same rate as CPTPP members, 2.5 million tons of top quality corn, and an agreement to not raise taxes on Japanese cars, which will keep Japanese car exports ticking along well, and provide jobs for Japanese.

Big deal with big benefits for both nations. Trump and PM Abe delivered beyond all expectations!

2 ( +6 / -4 )

All trade is win-win situation. There is no such a thing as unfair trade.

-11 ( +1 / -12 )

 normally would not commend Obama, but on trade it sure looks like Trump is the dumb one. He pulled USA out of the TPP, only to now go back and negotiate a very similar deal with each individual countries. US farmers and industries left out in the cold in the mean time. No wonder Japan has offered to buy excess corn. Japan has a win here, USA has a win also but a bit unnecessarily late to the party.

On top of that, once U.S. left the TPP negotiating table, Japan was quickly able to implement a rather conservative tariff schedule from the FTA/EPA agreements in place with the participant nations, which U.S. had long protested.

But good ol’ Trump will twist this as a huge victory for Americans and the ignorant masses will of course, follow.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

@meiyouwenti

Did Abe sell off Japanese agriculture at a bargain price?

LOL, most of Japanese agri ventures today are completely worthless on the world stage, because they are so uncompetitive. Abe couldn't have got anything from Japanese agriculture, even if he wanted to 'sell'.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Did Abe sell off Japanese agriculture at a bargain price?

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

And Japan's benefit is...?

We the consumer will benefit! That matters!

2 ( +6 / -4 )

@crapafat

The world is realigning, like it was always going to under the TPP, it's happening, those left out will be the looser, Japan sure looks like it got first place unless the bureaucrats stuff it up in writing the formal agreement.

People keep seeing it as though the status quo was staying, it was never staying, not under tge original TPP, and certainly not under Trump. America could never have gone on under the status quo...

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

I normally would not commend Obama, but on trade it sure looks like Trump is the dumb one. He pulled USA out of the TPP, only to now go back and negotiate a very similar deal with each individual countries. US farmers and industries left out in the cold in the mean time. No wonder Japan has offered to buy excess corn. Japan has a win here, USA has a win also but a bit unnecessarily late to the party.

Looks to me like China is still the one left out (like the original TPP), and good allies like Japan walk off into the sunset like in the original TPP.

China probably saw this coming long ago and will have already planned to rev up its domestic consumtion in readiness for a big whack from USA, but Europe is going to be interesting....highly dependent on exports that strikes at the heart of modern contemporary USA. I can't see how Europe is going to fare well, especially with Brexit looming as well, the Brits sure do look like they have a very good sense of timing.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

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