TOKYO, Nov. 30 — The finance ministry has decided to maintain a provision that allows Japan to invoke a World Trade Organization (WTO) special safeguard mechanism in the event of a sharp rise in beef imports in the year starting April 2018.
In August, Tokyo imposed the WTO safeguard to restrict frozen beef imports temporarily by raising the tariff, after the imports rises more than 17% year-on-year in the April-June quarter.
It mainly affects U.S. producers because they are the main suppliers of frozen beef to Japan, and Washington doesn’t have a free trade agreement with Tokyo.
The measure will remain in effect through the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2018.
The safeguard mechanism is a part of the 1995 WTO agreement, in which Tokyo voluntarily lowered the tariff on frozen beef to 38.5 percent from 50 percent, in exchange for obtaining the right to raise it to 50 percent should imports exceed the limit.
The U.S. meat industry and the administration of President Donald Trump have criticized the measure as an “artificial barrier,” saying it unfairly distorts the Japanese beef market and punishes both U.S. producers and Japanese consumers.
Some Japanese officials have suggested changing the safeguard triggers to incorporate the U.S. demand.