The SAFE Act of 2025 authorizes key USDA and trade officials to proactively negotiate agreements with export markets to mitigate trade disruptions caused by animal disease outbreaks.
Randy Feenstra
Representative
IA-4
The Safe American Food Exports Act of 2025 (SAFE Act) authorizes key agricultural and trade officials to proactively negotiate agreements with major export markets. These negotiations aim to establish disease control zones in advance of animal disease outbreaks. The goal is to minimize disruptions to U.S. livestock and animal product exports should an outbreak occur.
SAFE Act Authorizes Preemptive Trade Deals to Protect U.S. Meat Exports During Disease Outbreaks
The Safe American Food Exports Act of 2025, or the SAFE Act, is essentially a plan to keep U.S. agricultural exports moving even when a livestock disease pops up here. It’s all about getting ahead of the problem. This section gives several high-ranking officials—the heads of APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Under Secretary for Trade—the green light to work with the U.S. Trade Representative to negotiate agreements before an outbreak happens.
The 'Keep the Ship Sailing' Clause
Think about it: when a disease like Avian Flu or Foot-and-Mouth Disease hits, foreign countries often slam the door on all U.S. meat and animal product imports immediately. That’s a huge, immediate hit to farmers and the entire supply chain. The SAFE Act is designed to prevent this total shutdown by establishing pre-negotiated protocols with our major export markets. The bill specifically focuses on agreeing to things like regional zones or compartments for disease control. For example, if a disease is found in Texas, a pre-negotiated agreement might allow meat from Montana to keep shipping without interruption, rather than banning the entire country’s supply.
This is a smart, proactive move for the agriculture industry. For a rancher in Nebraska or a poultry processor in Georgia, this means more stable revenue and less risk of an overnight market collapse due to an outbreak hundreds of miles away. It’s a way to add predictability to an unpredictable business, and it encourages the negotiators to use the latest global research and science when hammering out these trade agreements.
What It Doesn’t Force
It’s worth noting what this new authority doesn't do. While it empowers these officials to negotiate these disease protocols, the bill explicitly states that the U.S. Trade Representative is not required to make these animal disease agreements a mandatory part of any other broader trade deals they might be working on. This keeps the two types of negotiations separate, meaning a major trade agreement on tariffs, for instance, won't be held up because of complex discussions about regional disease zoning. This clarity helps keep the trade wheels turning without adding unnecessary friction.