Farm groups have been critical of the administration for the lack of a trade agenda in its first two years including key trade appointments. They’ve also expressed disappointment that trade was not a priority under the current administration, pointing to the lack of new Free Trade Agreements with partners like the U.K. or work to renew a trade deal with China.
However, USDA Under Secretary for Trade Alexis Taylor and Chief Ag Negotiator Doug McKalip were finally confirmed by the Senate at the end of 2022. Dean Meyer, Chair of the U.S. Meat Export Federation says they welcomed the new trade leadership as it’s a step in the right direction. “I’m optimistic that the Biden Administration is going to get more involved in trade they’re getting a lot of pressure to and hopefully we can move the needle here because it’s really been stagnated for the last two years.”
USTR Chief Ag Negotiator Doug McKalip has been in the job for about 7 weeks and says his office has already had many successes including reopening pork exports to Ghana. Plus, the U.S. signed a new Tariff Rate Quota agreement with the EU following Brexit. “This is going to mean tremendous access for rice, almonds, wheat, corn and frozen beef and there’s a lot more work to do in that area certainly.”
Additionally, negotiations in January resulted in India dropping their tariff on U.S. pecans by 70% McKalip says, “They also eliminated the tariff on industrial ethanol and also eliminated or reduced tariffs on some food products as well so some real progress.” Plus, China lifted cold chain restrictions that were put in place back at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
McKalip says they continue to focus on Mexico’s policy to ban GMO corn for human consumption by 2024. He says they’re pushing Mexico to make sure they adhere to the provisions they signed on to in the USMCA, which is to use science and risk-based assessments for their decision making on importing U.S. grain.
