The Office of U.S. Trade Representative last week announced the completion of an agreement on
reciprocal trade between the United States and Taiwan.

U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom, who was in Taipei at the time of the announcement, says the trade deal is good news for U.S. red meat exports, starting with beef, where Taiwan is the fifth largest export market.

The U.S. beef market, currently $650 million a year, and with reduced tariffs and increased access on
certain cuts, we see the potential to grow that product mix for Taiwan, which is great news. While not
nearly as big a market on the pork side, we face continued challenges on tariffs, with inequal tariff
levels vis a vis so our major competition like Canada, for example. So getting us on the same baseline
there and increasing market access there would be a huge help.

U.S. pork also faces challenges in Taiwan that date back to Taiwan’s decision several years ago to
amend its zero tolerance policy for rectopamine residues. While there have been no violations or safety
issues related to rectopamine in U.S. pork, the move generated negative publicity that has been difficult
to overcome.

We face a real issue with consumer acceptance of U.S. pork in Taiwan, and this will go a long way and
not only get us on a level playing field tariff wise, but hopefully helping us to improve the perception of
U.S. pork in Taiwan. I would definitely like to thank the Trump administration for their continued work to
break down barriers for trade access and any market that we can grow will work to the advantage of the
U.S. cattle and pig farmer.

The benefits extend beyond U.S. beef and pork.

There’s increased access, zero duty access for bison and U.S. lamb. So once again, while not big
markets, any increase in access and the opportunity for additional business is welcome to the U.S.
bison producer as well as the U.S. lamb producer.

For more please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation,

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