Audio: FTAs Should Top Congressional Priority List
Published: Sep 07, 2011
Congress faces a busy agenda when it returns from August recess, but USMEF Chairman Keith Miller says few items can offer as much immediate benefit to the struggling U.S. economy as ratification of pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
USDA has estimated that approval of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement would boost total U.S. agricultural exports by $1.9 billion. Approval of the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement and the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement would increase ag exports by $371 million and $46 million, respectively. Based on an estimated 8,400 jobs supported by every $1 billion in exports, these FTAs will help create nearly 20,000 sorely needed U.S. jobs.
The U.S.-South Korea FTA is projected to boost U.S. beef exports to more than $1 billion per year over the 15-year implementation period. For pork, U.S. exports would more than double by 2016. The Colombia and Panama FTAs would add an estimated $35 million in beef exports and about $25 million in pork exports by 2016.
Miller, a farmer-stockman from Great Bend, Kan., adds that ratification of the FTAs has taken on an even greater sense of urgency now that key competitors are moving forward on trade agreements of their own. The European Union (EU) has recently implemented advantageous agreements with Korea, Colombia and Peru, while Canada has also implemented an FTA with Colombia. Australia, which is by far the United States’ biggest competitor in the Korean beef market, is said to be very close to finalizing an FTA with Korea that would provide a price advantage for Australian beef exports. Korea’s duties on beef imports are currently 40 percent, but would be reduced to zero over a 15-year timetable under these trade agreements. So, the supplying country that is first to have its duties reduced will gain a price advantage that will last for many years.
Despite import duties as high as 30 percent in Panama and a whopping 80 percent in Colombia, U.S. beef has made initial inroads into these markets. Through June, year-over-year beef exports to Panama are up 36 percent in value to $2.2 million, while exports to Colombia have more than tripled to $1.9 million. The FTA with Panama would immediately eliminate duties on Choice and Prime cuts and some offal items, while phasing out most other duties over 15 years. The FTA with Colombia would open the market to an unlimited volume of duty-free Choice and Prime cuts while establishing a duty-free quota for variety meats and other muscle cuts.
Pork exports to these markets hold similar promise, having reached $8.7 million in Colombia and $4.6 million in Panama so far this year. Colombia’s pork duties range from 20 to 30 percent, and would be eliminated by the fifth year of the agreement. Panama’s duty on most pork muscle cuts is 70 percent, but would be reduced to zero on imports falling within a new duty-free quota.
TRANSCRIPT:
JOE SCHUELE: This is Joe Schuele with the U.S. Meat Export Federation Report. Congress faces a busy agenda when it returns from its August recess, but USMEF Chairman Keith Miller, a farmer stockman from Great Bend, Kansas, says ratification of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with South Korea, Panama, and Columbia should be at the top of the priority list because of their positive impact on the U.S. economy and the danger of falling behind competitors in key export markets for U.S. beef and pork:
KEITH MILLER: The jobs it can create, across the U.S., are no small amount. We need to get those products moving over seas, and the one way we can do it, is signing those Free Trade Agreements. We need to keep up with our competition and if we don’t the competition is going to take our market away from us. I know Australia is really pushing hard to get a Free Trade Agreement with Korea; and they are our largest competitor in the Korean market. We need to get that thing signed and in force because we see that it could be up to a billion dollars per year increase in exports if we can get this thing going. We need to get this ratified.
JOE SCHUELE: While the volume of trade with Panama and Columbia is not as high as Korea, Miller says those agreements are also very important because they represent potential future opportunities for U.S. beef and pork:
KEITH MILLER: We need to be moving them just as fast as we move the Korean FTA because the opportunities down there, they’re getting better lifestyle and they’re asking for better quality foods and we have that product that we can sell them if we can just get through these Free Trade Agreements. It would be nothing but good for American agriculture if we could get all three of these Free Trade Agreements passed.
JOE SCHUELE: For more on the potential benefits that these Free Trade Agreements hold for the U.S. beef and pork industries, please visit USMEF.org.
USDA has estimated that approval of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement would boost total U.S. agricultural exports by $1.9 billion. Approval of the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement and the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement would increase ag exports by $371 million and $46 million, respectively. Based on an estimated 8,400 jobs supported by every $1 billion in exports, these FTAs will help create nearly 20,000 sorely needed U.S. jobs.
The U.S.-South Korea FTA is projected to boost U.S. beef exports to more than $1 billion per year over the 15-year implementation period. For pork, U.S. exports would more than double by 2016. The Colombia and Panama FTAs would add an estimated $35 million in beef exports and about $25 million in pork exports by 2016.
Miller, a farmer-stockman from Great Bend, Kan., adds that ratification of the FTAs has taken on an even greater sense of urgency now that key competitors are moving forward on trade agreements of their own. The European Union (EU) has recently implemented advantageous agreements with Korea, Colombia and Peru, while Canada has also implemented an FTA with Colombia. Australia, which is by far the United States’ biggest competitor in the Korean beef market, is said to be very close to finalizing an FTA with Korea that would provide a price advantage for Australian beef exports. Korea’s duties on beef imports are currently 40 percent, but would be reduced to zero over a 15-year timetable under these trade agreements. So, the supplying country that is first to have its duties reduced will gain a price advantage that will last for many years.
Despite import duties as high as 30 percent in Panama and a whopping 80 percent in Colombia, U.S. beef has made initial inroads into these markets. Through June, year-over-year beef exports to Panama are up 36 percent in value to $2.2 million, while exports to Colombia have more than tripled to $1.9 million. The FTA with Panama would immediately eliminate duties on Choice and Prime cuts and some offal items, while phasing out most other duties over 15 years. The FTA with Colombia would open the market to an unlimited volume of duty-free Choice and Prime cuts while establishing a duty-free quota for variety meats and other muscle cuts.
Pork exports to these markets hold similar promise, having reached $8.7 million in Colombia and $4.6 million in Panama so far this year. Colombia’s pork duties range from 20 to 30 percent, and would be eliminated by the fifth year of the agreement. Panama’s duty on most pork muscle cuts is 70 percent, but would be reduced to zero on imports falling within a new duty-free quota.
TRANSCRIPT:
JOE SCHUELE: This is Joe Schuele with the U.S. Meat Export Federation Report. Congress faces a busy agenda when it returns from its August recess, but USMEF Chairman Keith Miller, a farmer stockman from Great Bend, Kansas, says ratification of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with South Korea, Panama, and Columbia should be at the top of the priority list because of their positive impact on the U.S. economy and the danger of falling behind competitors in key export markets for U.S. beef and pork:
KEITH MILLER: The jobs it can create, across the U.S., are no small amount. We need to get those products moving over seas, and the one way we can do it, is signing those Free Trade Agreements. We need to keep up with our competition and if we don’t the competition is going to take our market away from us. I know Australia is really pushing hard to get a Free Trade Agreement with Korea; and they are our largest competitor in the Korean market. We need to get that thing signed and in force because we see that it could be up to a billion dollars per year increase in exports if we can get this thing going. We need to get this ratified.
JOE SCHUELE: While the volume of trade with Panama and Columbia is not as high as Korea, Miller says those agreements are also very important because they represent potential future opportunities for U.S. beef and pork:
KEITH MILLER: We need to be moving them just as fast as we move the Korean FTA because the opportunities down there, they’re getting better lifestyle and they’re asking for better quality foods and we have that product that we can sell them if we can just get through these Free Trade Agreements. It would be nothing but good for American agriculture if we could get all three of these Free Trade Agreements passed.
JOE SCHUELE: For more on the potential benefits that these Free Trade Agreements hold for the U.S. beef and pork industries, please visit USMEF.org.