President Trump held meetings with key Asian leaders this week, leading to progress in trade negotiations with several countries. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced agreements on reciprocal trade with Malaysia and Cambodia and frameworks for agreements on reciprocal trade with Thailand and Vietnam.
U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom notes that while Southeast Asia holds excellent growth potential for U.S. red meat, exporters face significant tariff and non-tariff barriers in the region.
“We’re excited to see some of those barriers eliminated. U.S. pork has made strides in recent years in Malaysia, and there’s room for further growth,” Halstrom explains. “But I think the larger potential is for U.S. beef. A similar situation in Vietnam. There the issue is tariff. Relief on tariffs is going to be mandatory so we can compete on a level playing field, so hopefully this is the first step in obtaining that.”
President Trump also met Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While the White House has not yet officially released details from the meeting, China reportedly agreed to resume imports of U.S. soybeans and made other commitments aimed at easing U.S.-China trade tensions.
“De-escalation of tariffs is essential, and it’s been holding back demand, obviously, on both pork and
beef. Fifty-seven percent duty on pork,” he says. “You know, there’s business being done, but there’d be a lot more if we were back down to a more reasonable level. And the same thing on beef.”
In another encouraging development, the U.S. paused for one year the additional fees recently imposed on Chinese-built-or-controlled vessels utilizing U.S. ports. China also agreed to pause the port fees imposed on U.S. ships in response. USMEF says these fees increase costs for U.S. exporters and can negatively impact ocean carrier services.
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