America’s largest foreign beef customer is shifting to other suppliers as new free trade agreements have created vast blocs excluding the U.S., offering lower tariffs on agricultural and industrial goods.
Beef producing countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Mexico are gaining greater access into Japan thanks to lowered tariffs, giving those exporters a significant advantage over U.S. beef producers.
President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, the winner of the runoff, promises to drastically roll back environmental regulations for agriculture, including speeding up deforestation, converting forests into range and cropland.