Agricultural News
Cattle Industry Will Provide Watchful Eye as US and Chinese Trade Officials Work to End Non Scientific Trade Barriers for US Beef
Fri, 17 Jan 2020 12:26:26 CST
The good news for the US beef industry, with the US-China phase one is the word that we're rolling back the non-scientific trade barriers in a significant way with the Chinese. Even with huge trade tariffs that are still in place against US Beef, the easing of these phytosanitary standards should help a great deal.
Kent Bacus, Senior Director for Trade and Marketing for the National Cattlemen's Association, told Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director, Ron Hays, there are still details to be worked out regarding some of these barriers being rolled back. "Well, you look at the document that USTR released today. It shows that this was all supposed to take effect in 30 days. But that still means that our government's going to have to engage with the Chinese government and really work on a lot of the technical points. There will be some growing pains that go with this, I mean that's just natural anytime you're having to make big changes as China's going to have to do, it's going to take some time. It is going to take continued engagement on our end to make sure that they don't become backburner issues.
Bacus said that will be the big focus for the National Cattlemen's Association for the next year or so, to make sure everything is implemented correctly and assisting our government. Still, he said they will also be helping the Chinese, "We're also going to assist the Chinese to the extent that we can so they understand why we use all of these technologies, why our system is as safe as it is. So that they can feel confident in really opening that market."
Bacus said this is something producers have been waiting on for a long time, and he applauds the Trump Administration for not giving up on making this happen, "I think it really is a testament to the Trump administration in the grit and resolve of our negotiators, that they didn't give up. They didn't stop there and say yeah, that's good enough. They said we're going to keep pushing, because we know we can do better, we know we can get more. We know that we have a safe product that Chinese consumers want, and we're going to fight for it, and that's exactly what they've done. So, we have a lot to be thankful for. And I think we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us. But, again, there's going to be more conversations we're going to have to have. And we're going to have to make sure that, you know, China, fully understands what it is that we're doing so that we don't get shortchanged. And I think this is just a big, big opportunity for us to be producers."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear the second half of the interview with Kent Bacus as he talks with Ron Hays.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
