After years of negotiating and renegotiating, Congress has finally passed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Columbia, Panama and South Korea.
Doug Wolf, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a pork producer from Lancaster, Wisconsin, described passage of the FTAs as one of the "greatest victories ever for the U.S. pork industry."
Wolf went on to say that the trade agreements, "will be a boon for U.S. pork producers and for the U.S. economy and jobs."
The deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, when fully implemented, will generate nearly $772 million in new pork sales, add more than $11 to the price producers receive for each hog marketed and create more than 10,000 pork industry jobs, according to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes.
"It was extremely important that we approved these FTAs now," Wolf said, "because while these deals have languished for more than four years, our competitors have negotiated their own trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, and the United States has lost market share in those countries."
The U.S. pork industry was instrumental in getting the trade agreements approved, particularly the deal with South Korea. Last December when the United States and the Asian nation were at an impasse over trade in autos, the U.S. pork industry agreed to move back the effective date for when much of its exports enter Korea at a zero tariff rate. NPPC led the agricultural community in support of the FTAs.
Exports are vital to the U.S. pork industry, which last year shipped nearly $4.8 billion of pork, an amount that added about $56 to the price producers received for each hog marketed.
For years, the North Carolina Pork Council has urged NC's congressional delegation to support the Columbia, Panama and South Korea FTAs, citing the great economic benefit these agreements would bring to NC agriculture and in particular, pork. But despite those efforts, votes on the FTAs were divided.
Here is how NC's congressional delegation voted on each FTA:
Columbia
For: Reps. Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, McHenry , Myrick and Price; Sen. Burr.
Against: Reps. Butterfield, Jones, Kissell, McIntyre, Miller and Shuler, Watt; Sen. Hagan.
Panama
For: Reps. Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, McHenry, Myrick, Price and Watt; Sen. Burr.
Against: Reps. Butterfield, Jones, Kissell, McIntyre, Miller and Shuler; Sen. Hagan.
South Korea
For: Rep. Price and Sen. Burr.
Against: Reps. Butterfield, Coble, Ellmers, Foxx, Jones, Kissell, McHenry, McIntyre, Miller, Myrick, Shuler and Watt; Sen. Hagan.
