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West Coast port impasse worsens

West Coast ports were expected to reopen to shipping today after a weekend shutdown that heightened labor tensions.

The Pacific Maritime Association suspended operations for the weekend because it didn’t want to pay overtime to workers who it says have been deliberately slowing down operations. The union representing dockworkers says the move to shut the ports only made matters worse.

Meanwhile, exports of U.S. beef and pork continue to suffer. Phil Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says the impact to the meat industry is about 150 million dollars a week. And Seng tells Brownfield he’s also concerned about the U.S.’s reputation as a reliable supplier.

“We all can remember, I think, the days of the soybean embargoes with Japan—we sold almost 100 percent of their soybeans, but they decided they had to diversify in order to be food secure,” Seng says. “So the reliability of the U.S. as a supplier is being called into question.”

Seng made his comments in an interview with Brownfield during last week’s Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio.

AUDIO: Phil Seng