Good morning, everyone.
Thank you, Chair and members of the committee, for inviting us.
My name is Kyle Larkin. I am the president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Council, also known as the CMC. The CMC is the voice of Canada's federally licensed meat industry and the largest component of Canada's food processing sector, with annual sales exceeding $32 billion a year and supporting nearly 300,000 jobs across the country.
Our members process over 90% of Canada's meat, including beef, pork, veal, lamb and bison, supplying Canadian families in more than 90 export markets with safe, traceable and high-quality protein. The Canadian red meat sector is diverse, encompassing large multinational operations and many small and medium-sized enterprises that form the backbone of rural Canada.
We appreciate the invitation today to speak to the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, as our largest customers can be found in both countries. CUSMA and NAFTA before it have made our meat and agri-food supply chains highly integrated. The free trade pact has also benefited the meat processing sectors in all three countries, allowing them to competitively trade among each other and export to high-value markets around the world.
As you may know, Canada's meat processing sector is highly dependent on international markets. Each year, we export around 65% of the pork we produce and 50% of the beef. This amounts to over $10 billion in exports of meat products every year, with the United States and Mexico accounting for the majority of those exports.
The U.S. in particular accounts for $4.2 billion in exports of Canadian beef and $1.5 billion in exports of Canadian pork, for a total of $5.7 billion. In return, the U.S. sends $2.2 billion of meat products to Canada each year. Not only does this two-way trade benefit Canadian producers and processors, but it also benefits American ones. For example, our sister association in the United States, the American Meat Institute, notes that exports to Canada and Mexico of American meat products added $91 in value per cattle head and $28 per market hog.
Mexico is also an important and growing market for Canadian meat. It is our third-largest market for Canadian beef, with annual exports of $272 million in 2025, a growth of over 10% in one year. For Canadian pork, Mexico represents our fourth-largest market, accounting for $371 million in exports last year, a growth of over 17% in one year.
The political turmoil caused by the American administration has opened the door for Canadian meat processors and exporters. During my participation in the team Canada trade mission in Mexico, I was able to experience first-hand the potential growth opportunities and demand for Canadian beef and pork.
Due to this high volume of exports, the continuance of CUSMA is of the utmost importance to the Canadian meat processing sector. Thankfully, all three of our countries' agri-food sectors are aligned on calling for a full 16-year renewal of the agreement as it stands.
At the Canadian Meat Council, we continue to work closely with our sister organizations in the United States and Mexico in advocating to our leaders to uphold the agreement. In fact, I will be in Washington, D.C., next week to meet with members of Congress, senators and officials from the U.S. administration, as well as an organization named the Agricultural Coalition for USMCA, to highlight the cross-border economic benefits of the agreement.
At the same time as we advocate for CUSMA, we must ensure that we remain competitive at home in Canada. That's why the CMC continues to advocate for regulatory harmonization with the United States. This includes aligning our enhanced feed ban program with U.S. standards to eliminate unnecessary compliance costs. This regulatory change alone could save the processing sector $25 million a year. It also includes aligning our defatted beef regulations, which would allow the Canadian sector to extrapolate the same amount of ground beef from trimmings as the American sector does.
Both regulatory changes would allow us to remain competitive while supporting food affordability here in Canada. We must also continue to monitor potentially harmful policies in both the U.S. and Mexico that could limit cross-border trade, including mandatory country of origin labelling, known as MCOOL, and inspection inconsistencies.
Finally, the high integration among the agri-food sectors in Canada, the United States and Mexico is a strength for our negotiators. CUSMA and NAFTA before it have supported the cross-border trade of agri-food products, ensuring food affordability, food security and North American food sovereignty. It is paramount that CUSMA continues in its entirety. This remains the number one priority for Canada's red meat processing sector.
Thank you very much.