摘要：The world is becoming more of a global market place and trade agreements betweennations continue to reduce barriers to trade. Increasing trade affects all sectors of the UnitedStates' economy including the beef industry. International trade has both positive and negativeimpacts on the U.S. consumer and the domestic beef industry. One of the benefits of trade is thatconsumers are presented with a greater variety of products to choose from in the market place.Consumers also benefit from imports when domestic beef production is low and more beef isimported to increase supply and maintain a consistent retail price. Imports of beef during 1999totaled almost eleven percent of the U.S.'s total beef production (Livestock Market InformationCenter, 2000). Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Argentina are the four largest exporters ofbeef to the U.S.
