Brownfield Ag News
By Meghan Grebner
7/14/17
The Organization for Competitive Markets wants the Trump Administration to renegotiate the trade deal that resumes US beef exports to China.
Executive director Joe Maxwell says the current deal puts US farmers and ranchers at a disadvantage. “Currently it is clear from our side of the deal we’re going to allow Mexico and Canada to bring beef into the United States to be further processed and then shipped under our label,” he says. “We think that’s just wrong and it can be changed by the President.”
He tells Brownfield US producers are being held to a higher standard of traceability than their foreign counterparts. “US producers are going to have to have Premise ID,” he says. “They’re going to have to identify the farm in which the animal was born.”
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Colin Woodall says the President and his staff spent months negotiating the return of US beef into China. “The President as we know is a massive deal maker,” he says. “So we know this was the best deal he was able to craft given the circumstances that we were working with. It may not be the gold standard when it comes to trade – but it is a great opportunity for us to get our foot back in the door.”
Maxwell says if the deal with China is for US beef – than that is what needs to be shipped, not US beef that is blended what he calls” lower quality beef imported from Canada and Mexico” and then stamped with a US label.
