A National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) official says President-elect Trump’s plan to renegotiate or possibly withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is very concerning.
Kent Bacus, NCBA’s director of international trade and market access, says NAFTA created two $1 billion export markets for U.S. beef—one in Canada and one in Mexico.
“In Canada, we sell a lot of high-value muscle cuts—that’s what Americans also prefer—and we sell them at a premium,” Bacus says. “In Mexico, we sell a lot of other cuts that Americans don’t want. And so, without this access, where are we going to send that beef?”
Without NAFTA, Bacus says, the U.S. will most likely put restrictive tariffs in place.
“So we’re going to raise tariffs on Canada and Mexico—and you can guarantee that they’re going to the same thing to us. We are going to be at the top of that list.”
Bacus says a proposed renegotiation of NAFTA would require a six-month notification period. He says NCBA would use that time to educate the new administration on the importance of NAFTA to the beef industry.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com