Japan’s free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will increase market competition for U.S. nut exports to Japan. The agreements could enter into force as early as 2019. In 2017, Japan imported $557 million in fresh and dried nuts (excluding processed such as roasted nuts), of which 70.7 percent (approximately $394 million) was from the United States.
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.
