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Livestock groups want Trump to begin trade talks with Japan

Members of the National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association are urging President Trump to begin negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with Japan.

Ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s state visit this week, the groups asked the White House to initiate discussions on free trade agreements.

Kent Bacus, NCBA’s director of international trade says following President Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership the administration indicated it would pursue bilateral trade deals.  “If that’s the case – we want Japan to be a top priority,” he says.  “Because it is a top priority for us.”

He tells Brownfield the lack of a free-trade deal with one of the highest value international markets puts American livestock producers at a significant disadvantage.  “With cattle prices as volatile as they have been – we need more foreign demand,” he says.  “We need to be able to capitalize on those markets.  TPP would have taken our tariff in Japan – which is our largest export market – from 38.5 percent to 9 percent.  Without TPP we’re losing $400,000 per day in sales.”

The US International Trade Commission reports that TPP agreement would have helped grow US beef exports by more than $850-million and pork exports by nearly $390-million per year by the end of the agreement’s phase-in period.

AUDIO: Kent Bacus, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association