Domestic wholesale prices of U.S. beef, which is widely used in the restaurant industry, are soaring. The benchmark price has risen by less than 30% in one month since early March, marking the highest level in about six years. A shortage of supply was further aggravated by prolonged delays in the arrival of U.S. ships. The skyrocketing prices are having….Read more

BY KUNI MIYAKE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER   Last week, a massive container ship wedged itself between both banks of the Suez Canal in Egypt, completely blocking the waterway and affecting 10% of the world’s trade traffic. I could not keep silent about the matter, having been to the canal several times, as I spent two years beginning in 1979 in Cairo….Read more

Kyodo reported from Manila on Friday that the Philippine government is exploring the possibility of launching preliminary discussions on joining the TPP with Japan, Australia, and nine other member states. Manila has reportedly concluded that TPP membership would help boost the country’s export sector.

YUICHI SHIGA, Nikkei staff writer   MANILA — The Philippines has formally expressed interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with the goal of building new relationships with countries outside its existing bilateral free trade agreements.   Ramon Lopez, secretary of trade and industry, sent a signed letter of intent to New Zealand, the depositary nation of the trade bloc, formally….Read more

On April 1, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced a list of 1,227 makers and regions that are designated as producers of 27 important agricultural and food items for export. The government will provide them support, such as building export facilities, in hopes of achieving 5 trillion yen in exports of Japanese food products by 2030.   The….Read more

WASHINGTON — The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday it is seeking to remove Japanese tariffs and other trade barriers affecting U.S. products, signaling that efforts to increase exports to Japan will continue under the new administration of President Joe Biden.   While noting that over 90 percent of U.S. farm exports to Japan are duty-free or receive….Read more

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK — The word “trade” has largely disappeared from American headlines of late, in sharp contrast to the days of Donald Trump’s presidency. President Joe Biden has made clear that the Indo-Pacific is a key area for the country’s future, but has not signaled how he will engage in forming the region’s trade rules.

NHK reported this morning that the governments of the U.S. and Japan began talks on Japan’s safeguard tariff hike invoked on March 18 on U.S. beef imports based on the bilateral trade agreement. The network said that the agreement calls for the two governments to begin talks on future measures within 10 days of the introduction of the safeguard. The….Read more

By Koichi Kurose, chief strategist at Resona Asset Management   It has become clear from the recent U.S.-China talks that the Biden administration’s approach toward China will be as hardline as the Trump administration’s. No progress was made in the areas of security and human rights, providing no incentive to boost market activities.   The meeting [in Alaska] also underlined….Read more

Mainichi took up a teleconference between USTR Tai and Foreign Minister Motegi on Tuesday during which they agreed to launch bilateral consultations on Japan’s safeguard restrictions on U.S. beef imports. According to the U.S. side, the two officials also “shared concerns about the unfair trading practices of non-market economies such as China and human rights.”