In 2017, the beef industry celebrated the news of getting market access back into China. However, the celebration turned out to be more symbolic as there were still plenty of restrictions that were presenting challenges for U.S. beef getting into the Chinese markets. The signing of the Phase-One trade deal with China breaks down some of those remaining barriers.
Travis Arp is the senior director of technical services/access for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). He says the deal removes some of China?s over-restrictive sanitary and phytosanitary barriers and gets China adopting international standards on beef products.
China still has retaliatory tariffs in place on U.S. beef, which puts us at a price disadvantage in their markets. However, the easing of restrictions will get our beef in front of more consumers and should increase demand.
The tariffs remain in place between the United States and China as a vehicle for enforcing the agreement?s terms. There is no timetable on when the next phase of the agreement will be negotiated.
