Japan won't endanger farm sector for tariff deal despite Trump's complaints

Japan has made it abundantly clear: it’s not about to throw its farmers under the bus just to placate a moody Washington. That was the unmistakable message from the country's top trade negotiator on Tuesday, following one of US President Donald Trump’s now-routine gripes — this time that Japan apparently isn’t queueing up to buy enough American rice. Which is inaccurate, but we'll get there.

The president took to his Truth Social handle on Monday to voice his displeasure, alleging that Japan’s refusal to import more US-grown rice was yet another example of foreign nations being “spoiled with respect to the United States of America”.

Quite the accusation, considering Japan is currently juggling talks to convince the US to ditch a hefty 25 per cent tariff on Japanese cars — not to mention a frozen 24 per cent “reciprocal” levy on other goods, which remains in limbo until 9 July.

While the auto industry is the industrial juggernaut of Japan’s economy, its agricultural sector punches well above its weight politically, especially for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is trying to stay in favour ahead of the upper house elections on 20 July. Upsetting rice farmers? Not the best campaign strategy.

“I have repeatedly stated that agriculture is the foundation of the nation,” declared economy minister Ryosei Akazawa — who also happens to be the lead trade negotiator — at a press conference.

“In negotiations with the United States, our stance remains unchanged: We will not engage in talks that would sacrifice the agricultural sector,” he said, quite possibly for the seventh or eighth time. He’s just returned from his latest jaunt to Washington but kept things vague when asked whether the rice drama had been explicitly discussed.

Meanwhile, Trump, never one to let nuance get in the way of a good outburst, added: “I have great respect for Japan, they won’t take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage.”

Ironically, Japan has actually been importing American rice at unusually high volumes lately. Domestic rice prices have soared over the past year, prompting Tokyo to get a bit creative to ease the pain for consumers. Though still clinging to a cap of 100,000 metric tons a year for tariff-free staple rice (that’s the stuff eaten at meals, not industrial-grade filler), the government slapped a whopping 341 yen — or $2.37 — per kilo tariff on any extra.

For context, Japan devours about 7 million tons of rice annually, so forgive them if they're not rolling out the red carpet for Uncle Sam’s surplus.

Despite all this, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi has been moaning about the growing presence of foreign rice, arguing it poses a threat to national food security. Nevertheless, the government went ahead and fast-tracked a tender for the first 30,000 tons of tariff-free staple rice imports — usually held in September — hoping to rein in soaring prices.

Turns out, demand was triple the offer. The tender, held on 27 June, attracted bids for 81,853 tons. The US led the pack with 25,541 tons, trailed distantly by Australia and Thailand with 1,500 and 708 tons respectively.

Tariffed imports are also on the up. In May alone, private firms brought in 10,600 metric tons of staple rice — with about 75 per cent of it coming straight from the States, according to Japan’s finance ministry.

So yes, America is selling rice to Japan. No, Japan is not “spoiled”. And no, Akazawa isn’t going to tank the farm vote just to soothe Trump's bruised ego.

With agency inputs