Trump, Vance tout trade plans at conventionTrump, Vance tout trade plans at convention
Legislative Watch: Proposed new tariffs on Chinese car imports; Meat industry looks to streamline Canada-U.S. regulations; Colorado farm workers tested for bird flu infection.
July 19, 2024

At this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees devoted significant attention to trade issues, particularly regarding interactions with China and Mexico.
In his acceptance speech for the Vice-Presidential nomination on Wednesday, Ohio Senator JD Vance spoke strongly against continuing permanent normal trade relations with China and criticized President Joe Biden for his support of NAFTA. He asserted that free trade agreements had killed jobs in middle America and expressed his intent to change course in a new administration.
“We’re done sacrificing supply chains to unlimited global trade, and we’re going to stamp more and more products with that beautiful label, ‘Made in the U.S.A,’” said Vance.
In his own acceptance speech Thursday night, former President Donald Trump echoed Vance’s concerns about trade with China and Mexico. While he did not address agriculture trade directly, he promised to impose dramatic new tariffs on imports of Chinese cars.
“If they don’t agree with us, we’ll put a tariff of approximately 100 to 200% on each car and they will be unsellable in the United States,” Trump said. “We have long been taken advantage of by other countries. … If you go back 20, 25 years they’ve stolen, going to China and Mexico, about 68% of our auto industry. Manufacturing jobs. We’re going to get them all back. We’re going to get them all back, every single one of them.”
Meat industry looks to streamline Canada-U.S. regulations
Organizations representing Canadian and American meat producers are pushing to bring the nations’ regulatory regimes closer together to reduce border friction and help producers in both countries. The Canadian Meat Council and the Meat Institute sent a joint letter to the Canada-US Regulatory Cooperation Council with recommendations “to bolster regulatory cooperation and alignment between Canada and the United States.” The changes “aim to address regulatory divergences, redundancies, and inefficiencies that hinder the integrated North American meat and poultry market.”
The organizations advocate the establishment of joint food safety risk assessments and mutual recognition of food safety technology approvals. They also push for pilot projects to institute pre-screening and streamline sampling across borders.
Chris White, President and CEO of the Canadian Meat Council, touted the mutually beneficial gains that could be made if the two countries better align their rules. White said, “By streamlining regulatory and customs procedures, eliminating non-science-based trade barriers, and enhancing collaboration on global issues such as technology, sustainability, and foreign animal disease, the Canadian and U.S. governments can promote greater resilience, cooperation, and growth within the North American meat industry.”
Meat Institute President Julie Anna Potts similarly believes reforming rules could benefit producers in both countries. “CMC and the Meat Institute recognize ongoing industry and governmental collaboration is critical to preserving market integration, is vital to the future growth of our respective industries and is integral to the communities and workers we support,” she said. “Onerous, duplicative regulations and processes, however, serve only to hinder the significant progress North American meat and poultry packers and processors have made to bolster supply chain efficiencies, to ameliorate food and worker safety, to combat environmental degradation and embrace sustainable development, and to feed growing North American and global populations through innovative advancements that produce more food using fewer resources.”
Dozens of Colorado farm workers tested for bird flu infection
At least five Colorado farm workers have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, and dozens more are awaiting test results. At least 68 out of 150 workers showed symptoms after working to depopulate infected egg-laying flocks. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment distributed antiviral medications this week to all workers involved in the operation.
“All of the workers who had been exposed to infected poultry and were symptomatic reported mild symptoms,” CDPHE said in a statement. “They were instructed to isolate and offered Tamiflu. They are currently being monitored. So far, we have not seen evidence of person-to-person transmission. However, as our response is ongoing, we continue to monitor for genetic variations in the virus and changes in transmission patterns.”
Earlier this week, Oklahoma became the 13th state to have a dairy herd test positive for H5N1. At least 157 herds have now had positive tests since March. The Oklahoma herd sample was collected in April but the test result was not released by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service until late last week.
All the suspected human infections to this point have involved mild symptoms such as conjunctivitis and mild respiratory symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control is monitoring the situation for potential mutations that could cause more serious symptoms in humans.
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