Japan will eliminate tariffs on U.S. wine imports as part of a trade agreement announced between the U.S. and Japan. Reuters says Japan will eliminate the tariffs on U.S. wine within five to seven years after the trade agreement goes into effect. Japan currently taxes wine at 15 percent per liter, and the trade agreement would cut the tariff by roughly 13 percent.
Leaders of the two nations are expected to sign the agreement on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting later this month. The agreement, welcomed by agriculture, also gradually lowers tariffs on U.S. beef exports to Japan, from 38 percent, to nine percent by 2033.
Many of the bilateral agreement provisions match those included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership the U.S. backed out of when President Donald Trump took office. The remaining nations enacted the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The bilateral agreement with Japan should level the playing field for U.S. agriculture and its competitors, provide increased market opportunity.