Capital Update – For the Week Ending June 20, 2025

More U.S. Pork Plants Approved to Export to China

What happened: China recently approved 23 U.S. pork plants to export product to the Asian nation, following recent trade talks between Washington and Beijing.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) have been working with China’s General Administration of Customs to renew the registrations of U.S. meat and poultry plants and facilities that expired earlier this year. The recent renewals, which also included 83 poultry facilities, apply to product produced after June 11.

The latest plant approvals came just a week after the United States and China agreed to move forward on the May trade deal they reached in Geneva, Switzerland. Export registrations for more than 1,000 U.S. meat plants were granted by China under the 2020 Phase 1 trade deal with the United States, but many expired in February and early March. In mid-March, China renewed the registrations of 300-plus U.S. pork facilities, then suspended renewals as it engaged in a weeks-long tariff tiff with the United States.

NPPC’s take: A win for certainty, NPPC has worked diligently with USDA and USTR to gain this very market access for U.S. pork. Approval of these additional 23 pork processing plants opens further trade opportunities for certain types of U.S. pork products.

Why it matters: China is an important destination for certain types of U.S. pork products, such as offal, that return more value to U.S. producers than they do in other countries. More than 475,000 metric tons of U.S. pork valued at more than $1.1 billion were exported to China in 2024, and about 55% of pork variety meat (offal) exports go to China.

Senate Introduces Its Version of ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ Act

What happened: The U.S. Senate released its fiscal 2026 budget reconciliation measure – its version of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” – which includes several provisions important to agriculture. The House passed its bill in May.

Provisions in the bill offered by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry include ones that would provide funds for:

• Animal disease prevention and management, including for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 of $10 million for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, $70 million for the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, and $153 million for the National Animal Vaccine Bank.
• Research facilities, including $125 million for grants to assist in the construction, acquisition, modernization, or renovation of agricultural research facilities.
• Feral swine eradication and control, including $15 million each fiscal year from 2025 through 2031 for the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program.

The Senate Finance Committee portion extends several tax measures that were part of President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and that are set to expire or begin phasing out at the end of this year. The extensions include:

• Bonus depreciation, which allows the cost of qualified property to be deducted in the year it is placed into service rather than depreciated over several years. The current deduction of 100% of the cost would be made permanent for property acquired and placed into service on or after Jan. 19, 2025.
• Estate tax exemption, which would be increased to $15 million per individual in 2026 and indexed for inflation thereafter. (The exemption is just under $14 million for tax year 2025.) The value of estates above that amount is subject to a 40% tax when passed to an heir. Without the bill’s passage, the amount is set to revert to $5.49 million at the end of this year.
• Section 179 expensing, which is limited to vehicles, machinery, and equipment purchased for business use, would be increased to $2.5 million from $1.25 million for 2025 – reduced by the amount qualifying property costs exceed $4 million. Those amounts would be adjusted for inflation for taxable years after 2025.
• Qualified business income deduction (Section 199A), which allows a 20% reduction in certain business income for determining federal tax liability, would be made permanent. The deduction is set to expire at the end of 2025.

NPPC’s take: NPPC strongly backs funding for animal disease prevention and management and supports extending and making permanent tax provisions beneficial to pork producers.

Why it matters: Funds for preparing for, preventing, and responding to animal diseases such as African swine fever, Classical swine fever, and Foot-and-Mouth Disease provide stability for producers and veterinarians subject to those risks. With regard to the tax provisions, producers rely on fair and reasonable tax policy for profitability, financial stability, growth, and strategic business planning. If the TCJA provisions are allowed to expire, producers would see a significant increase in their tax liability.

Brashears Nominated to be USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety

What happened: President Trump nominated Mindy Brashears to be Under Secretary for Food Safety in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a post she held for the last 10 months of Trump’s first term in the White House.

As under secretary, Brashears would oversee USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which is responsible for regulatory oversight of meat, poultry, and processed egg products, ensuring they are safe, wholesome, accurately labeled, and correctly packaged. She also would serve as the chairperson of the U.N. Codex Alimentarius Commission’s Policy Committee. Codex is the international food safety standards-setting body.

Currently a professor of food safety and public health at Texas Tech University, Brashears holds a bachelor’s degree in food technology from the university and master’s and doctoral degrees in food science from Oklahoma State University.

NPPC’s take: NPPC supports the nomination of Brashears to be USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety.

Why it matters: The Under Secretary for Food Safety helps ensure the safety and wholesomeness of the U.S. meat and poultry supply. The department’s FSIS conducts inspections at federally-approved meat and poultry establishments and ensures that state-approved facilities – those that sell product only within a state – have standards at least equivalent to federal standards.

Agriculture Groups Want U.S. Funding for WTO to Continue

What happened: Nearly three dozen agricultural groups, including NPPC, asked the Trump administration to continue U.S. funding for the World Trade Organization (WTO), noting that its rules have been “instrumental” in supporting American agricultural exports.

The international trade body has helped ensure U.S. agricultural products have predictable access to the global marketplace, particularly by addressing foreign border measures, subsidies, and non-science-based trade barriers that restrict U.S. exports.

While acknowledging that the WTO needs improvements, the agriculture organizations in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the WTO rules supporting science-based food safety and plant and animal health are an important foundation for the fair trade of U.S. agricultural exports.

“Continued funding for the WTO is an investment in the future of American agriculture,” the groups said in their letter. “While the WTO faces challenges and needs reforms to improve its effectiveness, its broader role in establishing a level playing field and facilitating negotiations remains crucial for the long-term health of our sector.”

Why it matters: Currently made up of 164 member countries, the WTO deals with the rules of trade between nations. Its goal is to ensure trade flows as smoothly and predictably as possible. According to NPPC and the other organizations, U.S. engagement with and leadership in the WTO are essential.