Senator Pat Roberts pushes trade at the United States Meat Export Federation spring conference.
USMEF hosted their annual spring conference in Arlington, Virginia last week.
Senator Pat Roberts spoke on the importance of bilateral trade agreements and U.S. beef access to China.
?Looking forward with the consultations with the administration on NAFTA and China. We look forward to moving quickly to forge a new bilateral deal starting with Japan and other Trans Pacific Partnership countries.?
Roberts went on to say how thrilled he was with U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer?s answer in the finance committee. ?He actually said in one sentence: It is time to work hard on bilateral trade deals the president wants and we should start with TPP countries.?
He says that?s the first administration official he?s ever heard tie those two together.
?I thought yes let?s get to work. I also was very heartened to see the news with China to allow U.S. beef back into China. Details of that agreement still need to be finalized and we hope U.S. beef products will be allowed true market access.?
Roberts says he?s tried to encourage the administration to focus on long-standing trade barriers faced by producers.
