In today’s Beef Buzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays was at the 580 Cattle Conference in northwestern Oklahoma, where Kent Bacus, Executive Director of Governmental Affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, discussed the ongoing complexities of trade with China. Speaking about the current status of U.S. beef access to the Chinese market, Bacus said, “With the Chinese, we’re still out of that market. On the beef side, they’re still putting even further restrictions.” He explained that China has backed away from commitments made in the Phase One agreement and is leveraging trade strategically: “These are the most capitalistic people in the world. So they’re looking for a lot of different opportunities they’re going to continue to put the squeeze on us.”
Bacus emphasized the significant cost of being locked out of the Chinese market. “Loss of that market means we’re losing about $150 per head on exports by not having access to a market that really takes a lot of the spare parts that we can’t sell here in the U.S.” While China remains the most powerful single market, Bacus noted the importance of diversification. “When you look at the UK, Indonesia, Philippines none of them have the buying power that China does. But…you start to be able to diversify away from the Chinese market.”
He addressed the ongoing nature of trade talks, hinting that some progress may be on the horizon. “It looks like here in the next few days, the administration may announce a further delay of those retaliatory tariffs but we’ll see, because these negotiations are ongoing.” Bacus warned that a full decoupling from China would cause significant global economic disruption: “We’re so heavily invested in each other’s economies…to do that would really cause some global problems.”
A key issue Bacus raised was the delisting of U.S. beef plants by China. He explained, “The United States is the only country in the world that China has recognized USDA’s authority to grant access for our own plants.” However, that advantage is now under threat: “The Chinese are playing games here, and right now they’ve just really undercut USDA on all of this.” For future negotiations, he stressed, “We have to have something with teeth that the Chinese can’t back out of.”
Regarding the broader trade strategy, Bacus said, “This is going to be the bumpy time for us. We are poking many people in the eyes Now that they’re being forced into a reciprocal agreement, that’s painful.” He called for a commitment to fair and objective trade policy: “The important thing is that we continue to stand our ground advocate for science-based trade, objective trade, take the politics out of it.”
Lastly, Bacus touched on emerging tensions with Canada and Mexico tied to U.S. tariffs related to fentanyl concerns. “These tariffs are related to fentanyl they do not apply to anything covered in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.” He added, “This is an important kind of first round of talks leading into the 2026 reset,” warning that if Canada and Mexico “don’t show that they’re acting in good faith that’s not going to set a good stage” for North American trade relations moving forward.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
