Ambassador to Japan Nominee Eyes Boosting US Exports of LNG, Potatoes
U.S. ambassador to Japan nominee George Glass said March 13 that he would seek to ensure Japan follows through on its commitment to ramp up its purchase of U.S. liquefied natural gas to reduce its trade deficit with the U.S. and its reliance on Russia.
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“If confirmed, I will hold them to that promise,” Glass testified at a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Japan agreed to the LNG increase during Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru’s Feb. 7 visit to Washington, D.C.
Responding to questioning from Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, Glass agreed to work with the lawmaker’s office to open Japan’s market to U.S. fresh potatoes. Glass said he would draw on his experience removing non-tariff trade barriers to American soybean exports as U.S. ambassador to Portugal during the first Trump administration.
“Being a believer in free, fair and reciprocal trade, which is effectively the agenda of the Trump administration, I will work hard on that,” he said. "I take that very seriously."
Risch and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., urged the Biden administration last year to address the potato issue, which they said has persisted for decades. They wrote that opening the Japanese market to U.S. potatoes could produce $150 million a year in exports.