Exporters Losing Other Markets Waiting on USMCA, Panelists Say

The delay in passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is closing other foreign markets for U.S. exporters as trading partners grow more uncertain about the U.S.’s trade negotiations, representatives from U.S. livestock industries said July 16.

The U.S. beef industry is facing significant hurdles in Japan, Kelley Sullivan Georgiades, speaking on behalf of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, told the House Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. Georgiades urged Congress to ratify USMCA, adding that some export markets are taking a “wait-and-see attitude” until the trade deal is completed. “Our other trading partners are somewhat in limbo,” Georgiades said.

She added that U.S. beef exports into Japan are facing a “38.5 percent tariff” while members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, such as Canada and Australia, are paying a 22 percent tariff that “will eventually be going to 9 percent.” Japan is “looking at our hanging USMCA issue out there,” Georgiades said. “Getting that type of deal with Japan is going to be critical for our producers.”

The USMCA delay and trade war with China are also closing off some markets for pork exporters, said David Dee Herring, who serves on the board of directors for the National Pork Producers Council. “It takes two parties to consummate a deal in trade. Any time you make one of those parties uneasy, it's hard to get back in,” Herring said of China. “So it’s very concerning.”