Japan has agreed to lift its ban on U.S. beef imports, pending planned inspections of American meat processing plants, the two governments said Wednesday in a joint statement.

The breakthrough resolves a thorny, long-running trade dispute between the allies and gives U.S. ranchers access to what was once their most lucrative export market. The ban, first imposed in 2003 over concerns that U.S. beef might be infected with mad cow disease, was lifted at the end of last year for just a month before Japan again halted U.S. beef shipments in January.

& #8226;


Read the full Associated Press story

.