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USMEF: Still potential for trade deals

The U.S. beef and pork industries had high hopes for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to increase exports to the countries involved, especially Japan.

Thad Lively, senior vice president of trade access with the U.S. Meat Export Federation, tells Brownfield now that President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the TPP, they’re looking toward bilateral trade agreements, which Trump favors, “We have to take the view that there’s always the potential for improved access in major markets around the world, whether they are members of the TPP or other countries that still maintain significant tariff barriers in the way of our beef and pork exports.”

Lively says Australia already has a trade agreement with Japan and is the biggest competitor for U.S. beef in Japan. Japan is negotiating a free trade agreement with the European Union. The EU is the biggest U.S. competitor in the Japanese pork market.

Lively says there are also a lot of open questions about U.S. meat exports to Canada and Mexico – now that the president is also talking about renegotiating NAFTA .