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R-CALF: USMCA will harm the U.S. cattle industry

R-CALF USA has filed its final submissions to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), describing what the organization says will be the likely impacts the proposed U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will have on the U.S. cattle industry.

“The likely impact of the USMCA on the U.S. cattle industry will be substantial, and it will be substantially negative,” R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said in oral testimony before the ITC.

The ITC is to submit to the President and to Congress a report assessing the likely impact of the USMCA on the United States economy and on specific industry sectors.

In a news release, referring to its submissions to the ITC, R-CALF says that because the USMCA adopts the same provisions in the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) regarding cattle and beef trade, the likely impacts of the new agreement can be assessed by reviewing the impact that the NAFTA had on the industry in the 24 years that NAFTA was in effect.

R-CALF says the provisions of NAFTA allowed for greater import volume of both cattle and beef, weakening the U.S. live cattle supply chain and marketing infrastructure.