By RACHEL LANE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The focus of the trade trip to Japan earlier this month was on business, not on politics.

The USDA's most recent trade trip abroad helped introduce more than 40 U.S. businesspeople and 15 state agricultural representatives to useful connections in Japan.

Ted McKinney, USDA under secretary of trade, said the trip had the potential to be the most successful trade trip the USDA has organized.

Japan is the fourth-largest agricultural export market for the U.S. It ranks as the top market for U.S. exports for beef and pork and the second largest market for corn and wheat.

McKinney said everyone is aware of tariffs, what it could mean to prices, but the Japanese business people said they would be taking in to account quality, safety and reliability found with U.S. products when weighing future decisions.

In the meantime, an Australia-Japanese agreement continues to decrease the tariffs on Australian imports, making the products more economically competitive with U.S. agricultural imports into Japan. When the tariffs reach zero, many Australian products will be cheaper than the U.S. options.

"I remain optimistic that people love our products. We heard that unsolicited," McKinney said.

The Japanese government officials McKinney spoke with were curious to learn about biotechnology and gene editing. McKinney shared information about where the U.S. stands on these issues – in support of the possible benefits to agriculture.

The Japanese officials still encouraged the U.S. to re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership, while President Donald Trump has expressed more support for bilateral agreements.

When asked about China negotiations, McKinney said he could not share details of the meetings in May. However, the negotiators did go through each commodity to discuss concerns and the Chinese officials seemed receptive. He said his colleagues left the meetings feeling cautiously optimistic.