CO Farm Bureau Statement on the U.S.- Japan Trade Agreementon New ESA Rules
Denver, Colo. — Today President Trump signed the U.S.- Japan Trade Agreement, a key step to growing Colorado’s fourth-largest agriculture export market. The following statement can be attributed to Don Shawcroft, President of Colorado Farm Bureau.
“The signing of the U.S.- Japan Trade Agreement today is a positive sign for agriculture producers in Colorado. The agreement will mean sharply lower tariffs on many agricultural products and will allow American producers to compete on a level playing field with other foreign competitors.
“We hope this momentum can be carried into talks with Chinese leaders later this week, and that leaders on Capitol Hill will take note and work to quickly come to an agreement on the pending USMCA deal.”
Background
The U.S. has been working to come to terms with Japan on trade in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Japan is the fourth-largest trading partner for both the country and Colorado. The agreement gives American farmers and ranchers near-identical access as afforded other countries under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In 2018, Colorado exported almost $240,000,000 in farm and ranch goods to Japan, despite being subject to average duties of 17.3 % or more.
Colorado Farm Bureau and its members have a long history of supporting species recovery efforts, including those for the Black Footed Ferret and Mountain Plover. Colorado Farm Bureau even received an award from the Department of the Interior on the Mountain Plover recovery efforts. This proves what can happen when we all work together for the greater good instead of removing landowners’ voices from the process.”