DES MOINES, Iowa – American hog industry leaders are heralding four new but not yet approved free trade deals that will give them an advantage over countries including Canada.
“The Korea-U.S. FTA (free trade agreement) will give the U.S. pork preference in this lucrative market over other foreign countries,” said U.S. National Pork Producers Council president Jill Appell in a news conference at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa.
She named Canada, the European Union and Australia as competitors in that high-paying market.
Read Also
Saskatchewan, Manitoba sign Arctic Gateway deal
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Arctic Gateway Group have signed an MOU to strengthen trade through the Port of Churchill.
Appell said the South Korea agreement was the most important free trade deal ever for the U.S. pork industry. It is the fourth largest export market for U.S. pork, and the United States is already its biggest foreign supplier.
Free trade deals with South Korea, Colombia, Peru and Panama have been signed but must be approved by the American Congress and the overseas governments.
Each deal eliminates or substantially cuts hefty tariffs and other controls on pork from the U.S.
Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes has estimated the gains to be $10 US per pig live weight for the Korean deal, $1.63 per pig for the Colombian deal, 83 cents per pig for the Peruvian deal and 20 cents per pig for the Panamanian one.
Appell said the string of trade agreements the U.S. has signed since the 1989 ratification of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement has boosted the per pig price by $33.60.
Council trade specialist Nick Giordano said trade deals are behind recent good times.
“There’s no question that the profits that producers have appreciated in the past three years have been driven by exports,” said Giordano.
Getting the two most important FTAs approved might be difficult.
The smaller deals with Panama and Peru have good support in Congress, Giordano said, and could be approved this summer. But the Colombian and Korean deals are fraught with sensitivities.
Concerns about labour conditions in Peru impede that deal, Giordano said. And concerns from car-producing states might damage the Korean deal.
Giordano said South Korea’s restrictions on U.S. beef implemented after the BSE outbreak have frozen that deal for now.
“Regardless of anybody’s position and how badly they want it, the reality is Congress is not going to vote on this thing until there is progress on the beef issue,” said Giordano.
Vehicle makers Ford and Chrysler are already lobbying against the deal. But Giordano believes it will eventually pass.
“My feeling is that this agreement is too good for the United States overall. I think people are going to come out of the woodwork to support the Korean agreement,” said Giordano.
“There’s way too much at stake here.”
