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The U.S. potato industry is asking President Donald Trump to raise fresh table-stock potato access in talks with Japan, after more than 30 years of negotiations — a market the National Potato Council values at an additional US$150 million a year in exports.

The U.S. potato industry is escalating a three-decade trade fight to the highest level. The National Potato Council is seeking presidential intervention to secure access to Japan’s fresh table-stock potato market, with NPC CEO Kam Quarles arguing that discussions between President Donald Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister could help resolve trade restrictions that negotiations alone have failed to lift for more than 30 years.

US$150 million a year at stake. According to Quarles, opening the Japanese market could generate an additional US$150 million annually in U.S. agricultural exports. That figure frames why the industry refuses to let the issue drop: Japan is one of the world’s most valuable food import markets, and U.S. chipping-potato access — granted earlier after similarly long talks — demonstrates that Japanese demand, once unlocked, can be substantial and durable.

“Unrealistic” phytosanitary terms. During a recent visit, Japanese officials presented phytosanitary requirements that Quarles described as unrealistic. Under the proposed conditions, the presence of a phytosanitary issue in a U.S. state or growing region could disqualify that entire area from exporting potatoes, regardless of whether individual shipments met phytosanitary standards. Quarles countered that Japan would be unable to meet the same requirements domestically — and suggested that concerns about increased competition could be influencing Tokyo’s position.

Pressure from Congress too. Earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to President Trump requesting that he prioritize fresh potato market access during discussions with Japan. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are continuing negotiation efforts in parallel. The alignment is notable: growers, legislators and trade negotiators are now pushing on the same file simultaneously, which raises the odds that the issue survives the rotation of negotiators and election cycles.

A technical dispute with political roots. The dispute also illustrates a broader pattern in agricultural trade: phytosanitary frameworks, designed as science-based border tools, can function as de facto market barriers when drafted tightly enough. Regionalization — the principle Quarles is effectively demanding, where an issue in one growing region does not disqualify an entire country — is the same principle U.S. negotiators invoke in disputes far beyond potatoes. Japan’s counter-position, whatever its scientific basis, protects a domestic producer base that has little interest in competing with high-yield American table stock.

Why it matters now. The push lands at a sensitive moment: Japan has delayed decisions on U.S. fresh potato imports pending pest risk assessments, and American growers — facing the smallest U.S. planted area since 1952 and soft domestic demand — need export outlets more than ever. A presidential-level raise converts a technical phytosanitary dispute into a bilateral trade bargaining chip, which historically has been the only way stubborn agricultural market-access cases get resolved. Watch the next Trump–Tokyo summit communiqué: a single sentence on potatoes would move the file further than another decade of technical talks.

крыніцы

• FreshPlaza (via Brownfield Ag News), 30 October 2026: https://www.freshplaza.com/asia/article/9887792/u-s-potato-industry-seeks-presidential-intervention-over-japanese-market-access/