July 20, 2009

The US continues to press Japan to lift restrictions on US beef exports despite the political turmoil in the country that could soon usher in a new ruling party, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Friday (July 17).

"We should always look for opportunities to press the case to open up that market," Vilsack told reporters. "And obviously Japanese officials are going to have to make determinations from their political viewpoint...but that shouldn't prevent us from articulating the need for that market to be open and for it to be open sooner rather than later."

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is expected to call for a general election to replace the lower house of parliament, called the House of Representatives, on Aug. 30. The Diet, Japan's bicameral legislature, chooses the prime minister.

The opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, won key local elections in Tokyo and other parts of the country on Sunday, while the long-time ruling Liberal Democratic Party saw its popularity and power base continue to decline.

Japan banned all US beef in December 2003, after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in the US It took more than three years for Japan to begin allowing in some US beef, but USDA officials said it is time for the country to lift the ban completely.