Word came at the beginning of this week, that a victory was won for US beef producers during President Donald Trump’s Summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China announced just a few days ago after Xi’s return home that the Chinese government has agreed to move forward with opening access back up to their markets for US beef, which were shut tight in 2003 after a brief episode concerning mad cow disease. Kent Bacus, director of international trade and market access for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association spoke with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays about this new signal of hope to America’s beef industry.
“President Trump, he listened to the requests, not only from NCBA, but from the North American Meat Institute and the US Meat Export Federation - and we asked him to make this a priority issue,” Bacus said. “So, when you think about all of the requests coming into the White House for issues to be discussed, we consider this a victory, that beef was included as a priority issue.”
While this news has been well received, Bacus acknowledges that there is still a lot of discussion that needs to take place, hammering out the technical barriers of a trade agreement, such as traceability. These discussions have been going on for months now, since China first hinted at opening up their doors again, but they have since seemed to stagnate. However, backing from Xi may help to speed up the process.
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