Apples and Beef: and in-depth look at U.S. exports to Japan
Krista Cortellini
Ahmad Elarbi
Jacqueline Garris
Diana Hamel
John Michaels
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is one of the most disputed issues in the global economy, dealing with everything ranging from protectionism to health standards. In the current round of the WTO, the Doha round, agriculture is one of the most prominent features on the development agenda. Although much of the agenda deals with the developing world, there are issues disputed between developed countries as well. The U.S. and Japan have had a strong, but relatively new, trading partnership, including agricultural products. There have been a number of issues surrounding agriculture, some minor, and some requiring WTO involvement. Two of the most heavily disputed products are U.S. products are U.S. apples and U.S. beef exports to Japan. Aside from the market issues, there are numerous non-market barriers in Japan that have created a very complicated and heated situation for U.S. exporters. The following paper will analyze the non-market barriers and their resolutions for U.S. exporters of apples and beef into the Japanese market. The paper is divided into two sections - it first discusses apples and then beef. Each section includes an introduction to the problems specific to the product, some background information on the issue, a description of the non-market barriers and reasons for implementing them, the response to the non-market barriers, the involvement of the WTO or other organizations, and finally, the resolution of the problem and the current situation. This paper illustrates how and why the Japanese government restricted U.S. apple and beef imports, and also how the U.S. exporters w ...