Will a second administration of President Donald Trump bring progress on trade negotiations with key global partners? U.S. Meat Export Federation Vice President of Economic Analysis Erin Borror says exporters will be watching discussions with all trading partners, but two key regions stand out.

First is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is slated to be reviewed in 2026. Borror notes that USMCA delivered tariff-free trade and minimal sanitary and phytosanitary barriers across North America. The trade agreement was negotiated in the first Trump term and needs to be preserved and strengthened when it comes up for review.  

"Obviously our key trading partners of Canada and Mexico, we need to maintain that tariff-free trade and very minimal type of SPS barriers, and so that strong upgrade in USMCA needs to be maintained," Borror says.

As for potential new opportunities, she says the obvious one is the United Kingdom.

"That is partially because there was FTA attempts in the previous Trump administration. But also just because the UK is the only major importer of which the U.S. has basically no market share, and it's a one-way street with trade," Borror says. "We actually lost access through Brexit. We lost our duty-free access because the high quality beef quota stayed with Europe."

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The U.S. and UK held significant trade talks during the first Trump administration. Borror says that could signal an opportunity for an early trade win, particularly for U.S. beef and pork.

"We have basically no access into the UK for U.S. beef, and that's a $2 billion market, of which we're essentially out of. And on the pork side, also tremendous potential. The UK imports 630,000 tons of pork a year, about $2.8 billion. Again, U.S. pork hardly there," Borror says. "And we just need reciprocal access. We need no tariffs, no quotas. You know, UK benefits from practically unfettered access into the U.S., and we need the same into the UK. So again, it's only opportunities, really only upside. And hopefully with trade with friends, the UK could be one of those markets where there should be further opportunities - really, for U.S. agriculture, certainly for U.S. red meat."