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Free Trade Agreements

Free trade agreements play a major role in international red meat exports. See tabs below for USMEF summaries and analysis on the impact of U.S. trade agreements for U.S. red meat exports. 

NOTE: In 2018, the Korea-U.S. FTA was successfully renegotiated with no changes in market access terms for U.S. beef and pork.

Beef

The FTA means:

  • Duties of 40 percent to zero by 2026, over 15 years.

  • Duties are reduced by 2.7 percent each year.

  • Beef variety meat: duties of 18 percent to zero by 2026, over 15 years.

Pork

Duties on U.S. pork (22.5 percent on chilled pork and 25 percent on frozen pork) have been phased out:

  • To zero by January 1, 2016 for “frozen other” (the category which accounts for the largest share of U.S. exports).

  • To zero by January 1, 2014 for frozen bellies and other bone-in frozen cuts, most offal (from 18%) and most processed products (reduced from 27% or 30% for most products) .

  • To zero over 10 years for chilled cuts, with a safeguard.

  • Sausages initially 18% for 1601.00.1000 were phased to zero by 2016 (most trade occurs under this category).

  • Sausages initially 30% for 1601.00.9000 were phased to zero by 2014.