Meat Institute to USTR: Keep working to remove trade barriers

The Meat Institute called on the Trump Administration to build upon the America First Trade Policy agenda’s recent success in Europe, the U.K. and Southeast Asia by continuing to address remaining significant barriers to trade in markets important for the meat and poultry industry.

“Exports add value to every animal produced and in turn increase demand for U.S. corn and soybeans. For example, on average, pork exports contribute $64 in value to each hog that is marketed in the U.S., and U.S. beef exports yield more than $400 in value per head of cattle,” said Meat Institute president and chief executive officer Julie Anna Potts. “Consequently, the resilience of the U.S. meat and poultry industry is inextricably linked to U.S. trade policy and attendant initiatives that foster U.S. meat and poultry export growth. However, the industry’s export potential remains limited by unjustified sanitary barriers, prohibitive tariffs and tariff rate quotas and onerous registration and approval requirements for exporting facilities, among other impediments.”

The Meat Institute submitted comments in response to the U.S. Trade Representative’s “Request for Comments on Significant Foreign Trade Barriers for the 2026 National Trade Estimate Report.”

The Meat Institute’s comments cite the following issues as barriers to U.S. meat and poultry market growth:

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“The Trump Administration’s America First Trade Policy Agenda, though, has reinvigorated American trade policy and has demonstrated that it is capable of proactively addressing these unfounded barriers, which continue to proliferate and which curtail U.S. meat and poultry export potential while harming America’s farmers, ranchers and workers that produce the most nutritious, abundant and efficient food supply in the world,” said Potts. “In only a few short months, the Trump Administration has made progress in Europe, the United Kingdom, Southeast Asia and other critical markets, and the Meat Institute welcomes the opportunity to continue to work with the Trump Administration to reassert American leadership to advance U.S. meat, poultry, food and agriculture trade in a manner that revitalizes our farm communities and supports broad-based economic growth.

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The Meat Institute supports the businesses processing meat and poultry and their supplier partners. It is the largest trade association representing processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal and poultry.