Kent Bacus, executive director, government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, hasn’t had a dull moment in the last few weeks. He’s not had much sleep either.
That’s not surprising, as any time there is a change in government leadership, his department is going to be busy. Add in a change from a Democrat to Republican president and that president be Donald Trump, and, well, there’s been no shortage of issues to tackle for Bacus.
Coming off of four years of what Bacus calls “dormant trade policy,” Trump’s administration is hitting the ground running. That’s created opportunities to “set right a lot of wrongs” as NCBA sees it, but it does create some angst and anxiety regarding what will change and how.
While NCBA welcomes a commitment to reduced regulations and red tape, for example, Trump’s tariff threats could throw a large wrench in a very positive working relationship between the Canadian and U.S. cattle and beef trade. Bacus says that for his part, he knows that the beef industry counterparts on both sides of the border largely see eye to eye on issues, and that makes the tariff threats tough because “we’re not the problem,” he says.
“We work closely together. We are mutually beneficial…We don’t want to lose that,” he says.
Early last week was a test of that mutually beneficial relationship, as Trump’s threatened tariffs were averted, it seemed, at the last moment. Bacus says he hopes that a longer term, stable solution for the beef supply chain is found in this reprieve, because “there’s just so much of that cross-border trade, and that creates opportunities for every segment of the supply chain on both sides of the border. So anytime that’s disrupted, we all feel it.”
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