On July 17, 2018, Japan and the European Union (EU) signed the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) published on its website a summary of the tariff reductions for several EU nuts which mostly provide similar concessions to those Japan made in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiation (now completed as the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Although Japan’s TPP concessions appear to remain unchanged in the CPTPP agreement, CPTPP would allow it to enter into effect without the United States. The Japan-EU agreement could enter into force as early as 2019, which will increase market competition for products from the United States.
Japan imported $557 million worth of fresh or dried nuts (including peanuts) in 2017. The United States was the leading supplier with 70.7 percent of trade valued at $394 million. CPTPP members (mainly Australia) followed the United States with 6.6 percent, and EU members had 1 percent of imports in 2017. For the purpose of this report, we have limited analyses to U.S. nut exports to Japan valued at $10 million or more in 2017.
