Leaders from Japan told a Nebraska trade delegation last week that Japan is not interested in a bilateral trade agreement with the United States. Instead, Japan told Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts that the nation is holding out for the U.S. to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Ricketts says he is pressing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to negotiate new agreements between the U.S. and Japan, and encouraged Japan to engage with the U.S. in those talks. President Donald Trump removed the U.S. from the TPP agreement upon taking office earlier this year. TPP was worth an estimated $4 billion to U.S. agriculture. Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson, who is also on the trip, says they are hopeful that Vice President Mike Pence will make progress on the issue during talks planned for October.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.