Audio: Seng Addresses Cattle Producers on Key Trade Negotiations
Published: Aug 12, 2013
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You may download the audio file here
Beef producers attending last week’s Cattle Industry Summer Conference had an opportunity to learn about trade negotiations currently taking place between the United States and key trading partners. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks have been ongoing for some time, but took on a heightened level of importance for the U.S. meat industry when Japan officially joined the negotiations on July 25. The full list of participants now includes the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The next round of negotiations is set for Aug. 22-30 in Brunei.
The United States and the European Union held the initial round of negotiations on a potential Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) July 8-12. The EU is a relatively small market for U.S. meat at this time, but the T-TIP talks represent a venue in which several trade barriers that have limited opportunities for U.S. exports can be addressed. The U.S. and EU also recently announced a two-year extension of the agreement that has allowed some U.S. beef from non-hormone-treated cattle to enter Europe under a duty-free quota.
In the attached audio report, USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng shares his thoughts with beef producers on the importance of these trade negotiations and the opportunities they hold for the U.S. meat industry.
TRANSCRIPT:
JOE SCHUELE: In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report we hear from USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng, who shared his thoughts on current trade negotiations with beef producers attending last week’s cattle industry summer conference.
PHILIP SENG: Obviously with Japan in TPP, the economies of the U.S. and Japan account for 80 percent of those twelve countries in that, so the Japan opportunity looms very large. We have a 38.5% duty for our product going into Japan, so whatever we can do to see those tariffs come down are really going to be an added impetus. I think you all know that this year we are up about 60 percent on our exports to Japan. On February 1st the Japanese went ahead from 20 months to 30 months so the velocity of our products going in there has been at a very fast pace. We are regaining back our market share in that market, and so we see a lot of possibility again through TPP through lower tariffication in the Japanese market.
JOE SCHUELE: In addition to the TPP talks, Seng said trade negotiations with the European Union also hold promise for the U.S. meat industry.
PHILIP SENG: The other key area for us would be the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, they call it T-TIP, is a very positive development, not only from the standpoint of exporting more meat but fashioning a closer relationship with Europe where we can work on these issues together with animal welfare, with sustainability and a lot of these other areas as well. The European market is performing well for us; you just saw recently that they extended the beef agreement for another two years. That quote is about 45,000 metric tons so I think that is a very good possibility for us. So we see Europe again as a very good potential market. It is not going to be, maybe like a Japan maybe like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but still it is a very important market for us.
JOE SCHUELE: For more on this and other trade issues please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.
The United States and the European Union held the initial round of negotiations on a potential Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) July 8-12. The EU is a relatively small market for U.S. meat at this time, but the T-TIP talks represent a venue in which several trade barriers that have limited opportunities for U.S. exports can be addressed. The U.S. and EU also recently announced a two-year extension of the agreement that has allowed some U.S. beef from non-hormone-treated cattle to enter Europe under a duty-free quota.
In the attached audio report, USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng shares his thoughts with beef producers on the importance of these trade negotiations and the opportunities they hold for the U.S. meat industry.
TRANSCRIPT:
JOE SCHUELE: In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report we hear from USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng, who shared his thoughts on current trade negotiations with beef producers attending last week’s cattle industry summer conference.
PHILIP SENG: Obviously with Japan in TPP, the economies of the U.S. and Japan account for 80 percent of those twelve countries in that, so the Japan opportunity looms very large. We have a 38.5% duty for our product going into Japan, so whatever we can do to see those tariffs come down are really going to be an added impetus. I think you all know that this year we are up about 60 percent on our exports to Japan. On February 1st the Japanese went ahead from 20 months to 30 months so the velocity of our products going in there has been at a very fast pace. We are regaining back our market share in that market, and so we see a lot of possibility again through TPP through lower tariffication in the Japanese market.
JOE SCHUELE: In addition to the TPP talks, Seng said trade negotiations with the European Union also hold promise for the U.S. meat industry.
PHILIP SENG: The other key area for us would be the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, they call it T-TIP, is a very positive development, not only from the standpoint of exporting more meat but fashioning a closer relationship with Europe where we can work on these issues together with animal welfare, with sustainability and a lot of these other areas as well. The European market is performing well for us; you just saw recently that they extended the beef agreement for another two years. That quote is about 45,000 metric tons so I think that is a very good possibility for us. So we see Europe again as a very good potential market. It is not going to be, maybe like a Japan maybe like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but still it is a very important market for us.
JOE SCHUELE: For more on this and other trade issues please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.