The United States and Canada have made arrangements in case African Swine Fever appears in their countries. So far, this pig disease has not occurred there.
Two years ago, the US, Canada, and Mexico signed an agreement to immediately close borders to all pork exports upon discovery of the first case.
As ASF continues to spread globally, the commercial interests of the (pig) meat industry have grown increasingly significant. Both the US and Canada have very large, export-oriented pork sectors. They have also recently benefited from the high demand from China.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic among sick workers in slaughterhouses has made it clear that a prolonged full halt of import and export activities is not sustainable indefinitely.
Canada and the US have now expanded the ASF agreement with provisions for the event that African Swine Fever is discovered among wild boars but not yet in professional pig farms. In such a case, exports will be suspended but will be gradually resumed following joint inspections.
The North Americans will also use the ‘regionalization’ approach that is currently applied to the (partial) German resumption of pork exports to several Asian countries. The US and Canada will now divide their extensive shared border area into regions.
In Canada, the pork industry accounts for more than 100,000 jobs and generates $24 billion in revenue. Canada is the third largest exporter of pork: in 2020, it exported 1.4 million tons ($5 billion) to 93 countries.
The United States brought more than 129 million pigs to market in 2019, valued at over $22 billion, with nearly a quarter destined for export. The US industry provides more than half a million jobs.