Walz says Japan can't pick up US-China trade war slack

Gov Tim Walz said Friday that his just-concluded six-day trade trip to Japan and South Korea was productive but also showed that Japan won't be able to pick up much slack from the US trade war with China.

Minnesota's agricultural economy has been rattled by President Donald Trump's trade war with China and the resulting drop in exports of key commodities, including soybeans and pork.

However, Walz said, they heard that opportunities for increased agricultural exports to Japan are limited.

He said US embassy staff told them the Japanese market doesn't have the capacity to absorb much more.

"I was making the pitch and I think others have been is there capacity for them to pick up more? It doesn't sound like it in Japan," the governor said.

He added that they didn't have the chance to discuss farm exports in any depth during their one-day stop in Seoul, which included an hour-long meeting with the US ambassador to South Korea, Harry Harris.

"There's just no substitute for 1.6 billion consumers, who are hungry, to get our China trade negotiations normalised," he said.

"There's not enough market in the rest of the world to absorb our capacity."
"At a time of chaos and unrest in trade," he said, "our Japanese and South Korean partners are looking for solid relationships with states, and Minnesota in particular, that share their values."