This morning I was on BBC World Business Report discussing the excellent news that American beef is to be allowed into Japan once again. The position of American congressmen threatening retaliatory sanctions against Japan was that the ban on American beef was unjustified. The Japanese position was that American beef was not meeting their standards, after one beef processing plant (out of 35) had exported beef with spine in it (thought to put consumers at risk of mad cow disease).

Now Japanese Opposition politicians are claiming that lifting the ban is being to done just to suck up to President Bush, and it is expected that American beef producers are going to have a tricky time reclaiming the $1.4bn market they had in 2003.

Happily, though, trade relations between Japan and the US have improved today, after a week that saw the collapse of the WTO Doha Round. Increasing protectionist sentiments by the established economic leaders puts future growth in the global economy at risk. So this is a step in the right direction.