NCBA President Bill Donald on passage of trade agreement

[Faster horses]

--Drovers

WASHINGTON – National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Bill Donald released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate yesterday, Oct. 12, 2011, passed the free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. The statement is available via video here. The following is the statement.

“Well, today I’m in the nation’s Capitol and it is a great day for cattlemen all across the country. Why, you might ask? Because yesterday Congress ratified three important free trade agreements: Panama, Colombia and South Korea.

“We’ve been working on these for over five years, and the reason we’ve been so passionate and working so hard on them is because they will increase demand for our product. It’s like putting your product on sale for 40 percent off and you get to keep the same amount of money.

“You know, the president has been sitting on these waiting for the right time, and he finally passed them on to Congress. Congress acted very quickly and got them ratified. Now it’s off to the president’s desk to be signed into law. And then, we will begin to reduce those tariffs from 40 percent in Korea, down to zero. That’s a big number for America’s ranchers.”

see the video at:

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/latest/NCBA-President-Bill-Donald-statement-on-passage-of-trade-agreements-131781908.html

[mrj]

Thanks for posting this good news, FH. We support the FTA's and certainly hope Obama signs it into law NOW! He dithered way too long in sending it to Congress, and cost us too much essential income for US cattle producers.

Some fearmongers won't see it my way, but if we export for top dollar, some of our top quality beef which is more difficult to sell here, given todays' financial woes, and import a little low cost, low fat trim for hamburger, which is in short supply here, isn't that a win, win situation for US producers and consumers alike???

[Mike]

[Sandhusker]

With every free trade agreement comes a trade deficit.

Isn't having your product in short supply a desirable condition via the laws of supply/demand?

[mrj]

Isn't having a mutually beneficial trade in beef between the USA and other nations a good thing?

Please explain "with every trade agreement comes a trade deficit".

Which products of countries involved in these trade agreements do any of you expect will be coming to the USA?

We export high dollar cuts which aren't selling so well here, and import low cost, low fat beef which is in shortest supply here and mix with our high priced, too fat trim to make hamburger which is a little more affordable because of that imported beef.

Imported beef has to be inspected just the same as US produced beef and the same checkoff rate is paid as on beef we raise.

Both exporting and importing creates more jobs.

Imports of beef are very low right now.

Re. imports we get from some of these nations, while it may be nice, even more tasty, to eat 'local' foods, there won't be any fruits and veggies produced within a LOT of miles from me, so I rather enjoy those sent from more favorable climates.

I further believe it will be great to get OUR products into those countries at much less import tax than currently is possible.

mrj

[Sandhusker]

We have a trade deficit with every nation that we have a free trade agreement with.

You say trim is high priced, SH says that it is "worthless". What is it?

Imported product only has to be inspected as an equivalent, and I don't trust countries like Mexico's "equivalent".

If trim is high priced, and you're the supplier of said trim, wouldn't you expect a higher dollar for that trim and a higher dollar for those animals that supply that trim? Isn't that what you're in the business for - to make money?

[Mike]

Ross Perot's vision of that "Big Sucking Sound" created by NAFTA has come full circle. Since Jan 2001 alone, there have been 2.7 million manufacturing jobs that have left the USA. The jury is out on actually how many have been lost since NAFTA was enacted, but it is estimated in the teens of millions.

The "bargain shopper" model of economics has brought the U.S. to it's knees in the form of Trade Deficits with cheap goods flooding in from countries with lower labor costs, less regulations (which we should take a hard look at), lower production standards, etc. See Wal-Mart for a prime example.

Currently, beef imports are low only because of the de-valuation of the dollar, which is consequently caused inadvertedly by those Trade Deficits.

In the overall scheme of things, we might sell a little more beef to some countries with an agreed FTA, but they will buy it with money accumulated from the takeover of manufacturing losses here in the U.S. In other words, they'll be buying it with money that should be in our pockets to start with.


Beef prices are plenty high right now. It's the associated COSTS that are keeping profits low.

Look past your nose.............................................

[Denny]

[VB RANCH]

north american free trade agreement, just that FREE trade not FARE trade. When and IF the American dollar is worth a dollar you will see all sorts of imports again. Who can buy a 10 dollar steak, who can raise a steak for any thing less, really sucks, but i guess thats life as we inherated it

[mrj]

Well, boys, I guess we are of different minds on this issue. It will take some time to sort who is on the wrong track.

For the record, I believe the very fat US trim, WITHOUT additional lean trim available at a manageable cost IS "worthless", and I'm betting SH does as well!

Sometimes it does help to look at the big picture......outside our own little world. After all, over 94% of the world population lives OUTSIDE the USA! And many of them are increasing their incomes and lifestyles. Those folks can be our customers, or not, but it seems the world could be a better place if we trade with them, instead of just give them money.

So far as manufacturing jobs leaving the country, that has more to do with our nearly highest in the world tax rate on companies, and the unions' demands than any other reason. The people who have been displaced need to train for new jobs. There ARE jobs available, but some would rather remain jobless than move to new locations for work, or to train for new jobs, in too many cases.

The low imports just might have been a result of a very large and serious drought in Australia, as well as our dismal dollar value.

I'm not so sure beef prices are excessively high, and people still are buying it, even eating out at pretty high end restaurants, according to even the growth of new ones in Rapid City, SD. They are not, with one exception, true 'high end' places, but there has been a new Texas Road House, a Longhorn Steakhouse, and many others, some specializing in steaks, that have opened in RC in the past year. The upscale one, Dakota, features both beef and buffalo, from what I've read. Driving by all appear quite busy, tho we haven't had time to stop yet.

Yes, cattle prices are higher than we have had, but prices of what we HAVE to buy to produce it seem likely to be out pacing those increases.
Taxes definitely are! Our government is causing so much of our financial problems, and still people demand more services from it, more 'whats' in it for me' attitudes. I doubt any "costs" associated with processing our beef are going to drop much, with people demanding ever more pay.

I like the idea of making trade pacts that are more fair to the USA and dropping the ridiculous tariffs we have had to pay to get our goods into some nations, a welcome change from some past negotiations!

I don't belive for a minute those improvements are as a favor to us, but that they are demanded by the citizens of other countries wanting products they don't have. Doubtless, improvements could be made in our favor, but we have to start someplace, and these are vastly better than in past agreements.

mrj

[Mike]

[burnt]

You guys all sound like bona fide OWS types . . .