Trump's requirement that meatpacking plants stay open during the coronavirus pandemic raises questions about America's massive meat exports, especially to China.
President Donald Trump's executive order this week requiring American meatpacking plants to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic is raising new questions about the United States' exports of pork to China.
Trump's order was meant to prevent what meat processors have claimed is an imminent breakdown in the nation's food supply chain, resulting from the closure of several major meat processing plants that had become hotbeds for coronavirus infections. The president invoked the Defense Production Act, a law intended for wartime usage, to designate the meatpacking industry as part of the nation's "critical infrastructure.
The order has highlighted a debate inside the White House over whether to limit exports of pork to China, and what the president decides could have major implications for other U.S. exports. Previous DPA orders during the coronavirus crisis have required that makers of essential equipment in short supply to limit exports for the duration of the national emergency.When it comes to the meatpackers, there are no such limitations.
The question comes down to priorities, said Anthony Rapa, a partner in the Washington office of Kirkland & Ellis, where he works on trade and national security issues. Packages of Smithfield Foods Inc. bacon are displayed for sale inside a Kroger Co. grocery store in Louisville, Kentucky.But when it comes to restricting meat exports, Trump faces pressure from an industry that doesn't want its revenue streams restricted. He must also weigh the potential damage an export restriction could do the U.S.-China trade deal Trump signed in January.deal, which remains the crown jewel of Trump's trade-focused foreign policy agenda during his first term.
Moreover, restricting pork exports to China for the duration of the pandemic would likely be deeply unpopular with both the U.S. meat industry and the Chinese. But if the president does nothing, and continues to permit roughly one-tenth all U.S. pork to be sent to China every month, there could be other pitfalls.
found that a number of counties with the highest per capita infection rates in the nation are home to Tyson plants. On Friday, the company said it would reopen its Logansport, Indiana, plant with limited production next week, adding that it is taking "additional precautions to reassure team members that they are returning to a safe work environment."
Around the same time, Smithfield also shut down a plant in Wisconsin for two weeks and another in Missouri indefinitely. The Wisconsin plant processes dry sausage and bacon, and the Missouri plant produces spiral and smoked hams. The company saidthat the plants are near urban areas with community spread of Covid-19 and they've had employees who have tested positive. It said the Missouri facility can't run without raw materials from the Sioux Falls plant that's closed.
"We feel good about our ability to maintain a broad assortment of meat and seafood for our customers because we purchase protein from a diverse network of suppliers," company spokeswoman Kristal Howard said.
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