NPPC Applauds Completion Of U.S.-Korea FTA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Pork Producers Council today praised President Bush and his trade negotiators for completing a free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea that includes an ambitious outcome for U.S. pork.
calendar icon 3 April 2007
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The trade deal will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new pork exports and ensure that U.S. pork exports to South Korea will be on an equal footing with pork from other countries. Chile, for example, enjoys lower duties on its pork exports to Korea – and will have unlimited duty-free access by 2014 – because of the trade agreement it has with South Korea. That deal took effect in 2004.

“U.S. pork producers are excited about the new deal and will work very hard for congressional passage of the agreement,” said NPPC President Jill Appell, a pork producer from Altona, Ill. “NPPC is very appreciative of the great results attained by the president and his trade team, including U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, chief agriculture negotiator Richard Crowder and their staffs.”

Appell also recognized the efforts of House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who “stood by our producers.”

“The Korean negotiators wanted to minimize the market access gains for U.S. pork,” said Appell, “but the U.S. trade team came through for pork producers and delivered a fabulous deal that will eliminate duties on U.S. pork exports and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new pork exports.”

U.S. pork producers first gained meaningful market access to South Korea through the WTO Uruguay Round. Since that trade deal was implemented in 1995, U.S. pork exports to South Korea have increased 2,217 percent by volume and 2,606 percent by value. The country is now the fourth largest market for U.S. pork and pork products, and the United States is the No. 1 foreign supplier of pork to the Asian nation.

The trade deal with South Korea was made possible in part because of the effective working relationship between NPPC and the National Pork Checkoff Board and their shared goal of increasing U.S. pork exports.

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