U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer says progress was made in last week’s U.S.-China trade talks, which were held in conjunction with the summit meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi-Jinping, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) reports. Greer confirmed in a statement that the two sides have agreed to separate trade of some non-sensitive goods under the recently established U.S.-China Board of Trade.
USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom says he is encouraged that both U.S. pork and beef, including variety meats, are included on the list of products to be considered for more favorable treatment. Both U.S. beef and pork face retaliatory duties in China and there are a number of non-tariff barriers, including the suspension of several U.S. beef processing and cold storage facilities (accounting for about half of U.S. fed beef capacity) and onerous and inconsistent inspection requirements.
“This also provides a path forward where we can maybe separate agriculture and specifically U.S. beef and pork from some of these other overlying high-level issues, whether they be Taiwan or anything else for that matter,” Halstrom says. “The reality is that our issues are mainly scientific trade issues that have to be worked out. The devil’s in the details, and I think this does provide us a path forward to get some clarification around some of the testing requirements that are required for U.S. beef and pork, for example.”
Tariffs are always an issue to consider, he adds.
“We are struggling at the moment with high retaliatory tariffs, and the discussions last week could very well lead to some relief in the tariff side,” Halstrom says. “Currently our largest export market for pork variety meats is China, and we still have a 47% duty on U.S. variety meats going into China. So, No. 1, it’s important that we don’t have it go any higher, and No. 2, that we get it down to the more reasonable level we were at prior to when all this started.”
Whether it’s variety meats or muscle cuts, Halstrom believes the path forward would have some opportunity for relief on the tariff side, which would really help, he adds.
“Cautiously optimistic is probably the tone, but there is a path forward,” Halstrom says. He notes his appreciation of the continued focus USTR has on U.S. red meat access issues.
A technical agricultural working group under the U.S.-China Board of Trade is slated to meet before the end of the year.
