President Speaks on Trade
Cattlemen say they haven't seen any results.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jul 9, 2010
According to President Obama, the United States is on track to double its exports within five years.
"American exports grew almost 17% over the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year," Obama said. "A part of this of course is due to the global recovery, but we're also moving forward on improving conditions for America's exporters."
Following a meeting Wednesday with his 20-member National Export Council, Obama said his administration has run 18 trade missions to lift U.S. sales overseas, doubled loans to support exports and fought to remove agricultural trade barriers.
The President insisted he's committed to moving forward on three pending bilateral trade deals that represent an estimated $2.5 billion in additional sales for farmers.
Despite the President's claims Steve Foglesong, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, says they haven't seen much in terms of results.
China, the only major market remaining completely closed to U.S. beef, has recently made beef trade deals with Canada and New Zealand. The New Zealand pact allows millions of dollars of New Zealand beef to flow into China. China represents one of the largest potential growth markets for the U.S. beef industry, worth in excess of $200 million.
"Over the past three years, and two administrations, we've seen little progress in opening the Chinese market to U.S. beef, despite the fact this market is one of the top priorities for our industry," Foglesong said. "We're continuing to lose ground to our competitors and the beef industry is missing roughly $1.5 billion in annual beef exports as a result of unresolved beef market access barriers."
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Tagged: National Cattlemen's Beef Association, agricultural trade
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