Commentary by Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA
There’s something we must do to ensure America’s cattle markets can begin again to support our nation’s independent cattle farmers and ranchers. That something has everything to do with the upcoming election.
Now elections can cause a seismic shift in national policies, and that shift can be good or bad.
Let’s go back to the 2016 election, which did cause a seismic shift to two major policies, and they were good.
Then President Trump, a Republican, did two things that initially caused fierce opposition from Democrats. First, he reintroduced tariffs as a legitimate economic tool to both raise revenues and encourage the reshoring of offshored domestic manufacturers.
Now remember, for the previous 90 years the mere mention of the word tariffs in the halls of Congress was considered blasphemy. Tariffs are the antithesis of free trade and then President Trump made it clear that Congress had placed a false reliance on free trade agreements, causing America to suffer.
Second, then President Trump took steps to claw back America’s sovereignty that had been weakened by America’s obsession with globalism, as was exemplified by America’s blind compliance to World Trade Organization (WTO) rulings that undermined America’s constitutionally passed laws, including the WTO ruling that caused the repeal of mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef.
And then came the 2020 election.
There was great apprehension regarding the permanency of the important initiatives implemented before the election. Questions were raised about whether President Biden would follow through with the paradigm shifts initiated by former President Trump.
But President Biden did follow through. He continued to use tariffs as a legitimate economic tool to address price depressing imports, and to address the existential threat from the Communist Party of China.
President Biden also followed through with reforms of the WTO, rendering the unelected and unappointed international tribunal that was threatening our sovereignty to little more than a toothless tiger.
And then, like former President Trump, President Biden initiated two additional seismic, paradigm shifting policies during his first term, and they too were good.
President Biden resurrected the enforcement of our antitrust laws in agricultural markets, laws that have been collecting dust for over 40 years. He also began writing the rules needed to properly enforce the over 100-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act that was enacted to protect the independence of our nation’s cattle producers by prohibiting global beef packers from engaging in unfair, deceptive, and other anticompetitive practices.
Just as former President Trump’s paradigm shifting policies were met with fierce opposition from Democrats, President Biden’s paradigm shifting policies are being met with fierce opposition from Republicans.
And now we’re approaching the 2024 election. And the point is this: Both Presidents undertook important policy initiatives needed to strengthen America, and both Presidents met fierce opposition from the other political party.
But there are some seismic policy shifts that transcend politics and are absolutely critical if we are to ensure a strong and successful future for America. And when those policy shifts continue from one administration to the next, America is better and stronger for it.
Former President Trump’s reinstatement of tariffs and his aggressive claw back of America’s sovereignty from the WTO are two policy shifts that we still need to strengthen our economy and secure our national interests and national security.
President Biden’s renewed commitment to enforce our antitrust laws that promises to reverse the ongoing concentration, consolidation and vertical integration of our food system, as well as his writing of the Packers and Stockyards Act rules that will rebalance the market power between global beef packers and independent producers, are likewise two policy shifts that we desperately need to strengthen our economy and ensure our nation’s food security, which of course is the same as saying our national security.
And there is one more component of a needed policy shift that must be carried over to the next presidential administration. And that is the congressional enactment of mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef that will rebalance the market power between global beef packers and consumers. With MCOOL, it will be consumers who decide where they want their beef produced, not the global beef packers who now decide to source beef from the lowest cost country.
Here are the commitments Rural America needs from both presidential candidates:
- Aggressively enforce antitrust laws in cattle markets.
- Support the Packers and Stockyards Act rules.
- Stand strong on the continued use of tariffs.
- Stand strong against the WTO’s weakening of our sovereignty.
- Enact mandatory country of origin labeling for beef.
Remember, there will be fierce opposition from global corporations whose self-interests will be threatened when America forges ahead to restore for domestic cattle producers, domestic manufacturers, and U.S. citizens the independence, security, freedoms and liberties they rightly deserve under the flag of the United States of America.