While the meat casino<\/a> has been a recent hot topic in the cattle markets<\/a>, this week we’ll spend some time on international trade.\u00a0 This is a topic my colleague, Anton Bekkerman, discussed a few weeks ago<\/a>.\u00a0 While there are many differences between the current presidential candidates, one similarity (though to varying degrees) is that both Clinton<\/a> and Trump<\/a> agree that they would not sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement into law. \u00a0To complicate matters, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell \u00a0(R-KY) recently stated that the TPP, which was once thought to be voted on in the Senate during the lame duck session, would likely not be voted on until the next administration takes office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This disdain for the TPP has not been found within many of the largest commodity organizations in the U.S., including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association<\/a> and the American Farm Bureau<\/a>.\u00a0 With this in mind, let’s talk a bit about the importance of trade to U.S. beef production. \u00a0Over the last 5 years, U.S. Beef has exported and imported an average of around 10% of total U.S. production. \u00a0This is a dramatic increase since the mid-1980s, where the U.S. exported around 1.5% of total production and imported around 8% of total production.\u00a0 This period of increased trade has included the passing of NAFTA<\/a> in 1994 and the US-Korea Free Trade deal<\/a> in 2010.\u00a0 Over the last couple of years, Japan has become our largest beef export destination, ahead of other major trading partners Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. \u00a0Australia has become our leading country of origin for imported beef, followed by Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico (See figures below).<\/p>\n

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This brings us to the TPP<\/a>, which is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. \u00a0It is notable that some of our major trading partners in beef are included in this deal, most importantly Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.\u00a0 As part of the TPP, Japan has agreed to reduce duties and tariffs on a range of beef and beef products, including a tariff reduction from 38.5 percent to 9.0 percent on fresh and chilled beef over the next 16 years. \u00a0This implies that beef in Japan, our largest beef export destination and the third largest importer of beef in the world (behind only the U.S. and Russia), will be relatively cheaper for Japanese consumers.\u00a0 The U.S. will then agree to eliminate beef import tariffs, which are as high as 26.4 percent, over the next 15 years. \u00a0While lower trade barriers will likely increase our ability to import lower priced beef from Australia and other trade partners, ranchers in Montana are more likely to benefit from the increased beef demand that comes from expanding into markets\u00a0that value high quality beef.\u00a0 The TPP appears to be part of a larger commitment to open free trade for U.S. agricultural commodities.\u00a0 Each of these agreements are important to maintain competitiveness for Montana ranchers by expanding future demand for U.S. beef products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the meat casino has been a recent hot topic in the cattle markets, this week we’ll spend some time on international trade.\u00a0 This is a topic my colleague, Anton Bekkerman, discussed a few weeks ago.\u00a0 While there are many differences between the current presidential candidates, one similarity (though to varying degrees) is that both<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[26,3,54,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63],"yoast_head":"\n