Commissioner Miller’s Statement Regarding Trump Administration’s Deal With China to Expedite Beef Exports (5/18/2017)

Today, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller expressed his strong support and appreciation for the Trump administration’s projected target date of July 16, 2017 to resume Chinese imports of U.S. beef.

“President Trump said he would work to give us better deals on trade with China, and he has delivered on his promise,” Commissioner Miller said. “This deal has been in negotiations for quite some time, but the president was able to get it moving. We couldn’t be more excited here in Texas — the number-one cattle producing state in the nation.”

Commissioner Miller said Texas is not only uniquely situated to benefit from the ban being lifted but helped play a role in starting discussions with Chinese officials on lifting the ban several years ago.  

“During my extended trade mission to China in 2014, I spoke with Chinese officials about the Texas Department of Agriculture's eagerness to increase beef exports from Texas to China,” Commissioner Miller said. “As we all know, Texas beef is the best around!"

As Commissioner-elect, Commissioner Miller hosted a delegation of Chinese officials in Austin to grow agricultural trade opportunities between Texas and the Gansu province of China. Once in office, Commissioner Miller took an extended 11-day trip to China to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Lanzhou to further build relationships and tap into this expanding market.

“In fact, I spent a good portion of my trip working to convince the Chinese government to open their markets to accept Texas beef," Commissioner Miller said. "We now have a president and an administration willing to support Texas ranchers rather than harass them, and the result is that these negotiations finally crossed the finish line.” 

The Texas Department of Agriculture launched a global initiative under Commissioner Miller to bring more Texas products to international markets and secure international trade opportunities for Texas producers. Since Commissioner Miller took office, TDA staff have visited every continent on the globe — except Antartica — to promote Texas agriculture.

"My team and I are working hard to increase trade opportunities for all Texas agricultural commodities, and I'm excited to take Texas agriculture across the globe.”