With Japan’s approval process complete, the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement took effect Jan. 1. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said, “U.S. farmers and ranchers will have significantly improved access to Japan’s market.”

For agriculture, the agreement largely duplicates the benefits the United States would have gotten from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Until the U.S.-Japan deal was in place, Canada and Mexico had better access to Japan’s large egg products market than U.S. processors since all three countries were TPP members.