The Obama administration scored its first major foreign policy victory last week when U.S. trade officials announced from Hangzhou, China, that China intends to re-open its markets to U.S. pork and live swine.
In 2008, China was the U.S. pork industry's fastest growing market, accounting for $560 million in U.S. exports. China's May 2009 A/H1N1 restrictions have stopped U.S. pork exports to China.
By no means has the threat of the H1N1 virus ended in the United States, or the world for that matter, but science has proven that the misnamed swine flu doesn't have its origins in swine, and that pork products remain safe and healthy to eat.
Thursday's breakthrough at the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade comes with the Chinese government willing to base its trade decisions consistent with science-based international standards. ...
Sen. Al Franken, DFL-Minn., praised the move, saying "farmers are the backbone of Minnesota and of this country. We must be sure we are doing everything we can to support them."...
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Working out the resumption of pork trade with China is a major foreign policy accomplishment, and one that bodes well for Minnesota hog producers.
