The National Potato Council expresses sharp disappointment over the U.S.-Japan trade agreement. 

NPC CEO Kam Quarles says President Trump was unable to finally open access to the Japanese market for U.S. fresh potatoes.

“We were very optimistic given all the tariff leverage that President Trump had created, specifically on Japan.”

Unfortunately, Quarles says the meeting between President Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister did not include any mention of U.S. fresh potato access.

“As he was meeting with the new Japanese Prime Minister, we were really hopeful that he was going to be able to get this fresh potato market access request that, again, is 30 years old, finally to the finish line.”

Moving forward, Quarles says it’s back to the grindstone.

“We know the market is there in Japan. We know that the technical hurdles to our accessing that market have been dealt with. And really, it’s just a question of, can the President break past this Japanese protectionism? If he can, it’s $150 million a year in new U.S. ag exports.”

That would be a great way to immediately cut into a growing ag trade deficit that’s built up in recent years.