Agricultural News
NCBA Pushes for Trade Promotion Authority to Grow Exports
Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:46:28 CST
U.S. beef exports remained strong in 2014. When the final numbers come out it will likely show about $6.5 billion worth of U.S. beef export sales for the year. That will be a record for the value of beef exports, while volume will near or slightly lower than a year ago.
For beef exports to continue to grow, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said Congress needs Trade Promotion Authority to negotiate more trade agreements. NCBA Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Kent Bacus is hopeful Congress may act on that this year.
"It's very important that Congress takes that up immediately and give our negotiators the legitimacy that they need to go out and work these deals with these other countries with the assurance that when they come back they will get a straight up or down vote from Congress in a very short time," Bacus said. "The last thing we need is to have a big negotiation take place, have an agreement filled and then come back have 535 different opinions on it in Congress."
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays featured Bacus on the Beef Buzz feature. Click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to today's Beef Buzz.
NCBA believes this Administration needs to consult with Congress in those negotiations, so the U.S. can start to see those big tariffs in Europe and Asia fall off. This maybe a heavily lift for the GOP to go along with Trade Promotion Authority for the Obama Administration, but if accomplished the results could be substantial. Bacus said there are some good things that could happen as early as this year with the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). He said obviously we would like to knock down a lot of the high tariff rates with countries like Japan and Vietnam as a lot of the Southeast Asian countries have a large growing middle class population that wants to eat more beef. In order to get TPP, Bacus said we need Trade Promotion Authority.
NCBA also wants to see more U.S. beef entering Europe. Right now access is limited and Bacus said they would like negotiators to work out the differences with Europe because a lot of the restrictions are not based on sound-science. He said a free trade agreement can provide the leverage needed to break down those barriers in order to expand trade and specifically beef trade.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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