Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 10/11/18



The trade pact designed to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could open the door for modest export gains for U.S. poultry, pork and beef, according to a new report from CoBank.

The new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is expected to maintain the zero-tariff structure between the three partners concerning food and agricultural products that existed under NAFTA, the report said. Specifically, the U.S. chicken sector will gain 47,000 metric tons of tariff-free access to Canadian markets in the first year of USMCA, and U.S. turkey shipments to Canada should increase by 1,000 metric tons to 7,000 metric tons annually, according to CoBank.

The major potential impediment to trade growth in other U.S. protein sectors is the pending removal of Canadian tariffs on prepared beef products and Mexican tariffs on pork that were imposed separately earlier this year. The report notes that USMCA reflects a combination of some of the terms of NAFTA and some of the items covered by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which President Trump jettisoned within 72 hours of his inauguration. USMCA is expected to be ratified sometime in 2019, the CoBank report said.

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