Japanese Beef Tariffs: Beef Quality, Farm Programs, and Producer Compensation

Abstract Beef is a highly protected commodity in Japan and the number of studies on the impact of beef import tariff reduction has increased in light of the controversy over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), in which the gains from freer trade in beef was a major point of discussion. We estimate that an 11% tariff reduction for Japanese imports of both Australian and U.S. beef can generate a net welfare gain to Japan of between US$92 million and US$915 million. These results are not overly sensitive to whether beef is treated as homogeneous or heterogeneous. A more significant determinant of welfare gains is the extent to which farm policy would be decoupled along with tariff reductions. Under a decoupled farm program, producer welfare can remain unchanged while the net gain from freer trade is identical to that of complete removal of price supports with no compensation to producers. Therefore, negotiators for U.S. and Australian beef interests should lobby for both lowered tariffs and a decoupling of domestic farm policy within the importing country. This seems to have been the case as Japan was willing to move toward a more decoupled farm program under the TPPA.