The Country Where The US Gets Most Of Its Foreign Meat From

You may have read this headline and registered your surprise at the fact that the United States needs to import meat at all. It is, after all, the second-largest meat producer in the world, only ranking behind China. One of the many ways America won the geographic lottery is that it has a ton of open land for raising livestock, and puts it to good use by producing millions of tons of meat every year. But the only thing greater than America's agricultural industry is our collective appetites, and besides, we export a great deal of our meat, too. Therefore, we need to augment our wares with meat from other countries. The single largest importer of meat into America? Our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada.

That's right! It turns out Canada gives us more than maple syrup (which differs from American maple syrup), hockey players, and "Nirvanna the Band the Show." (Thought we were going to say "Heated Rivalry," didn't you?) Canada is the largest source of foreign meat in the United States, having imported over 360,000 metric tons of meat into America so far this year. (Second and third place go to Australia and Mexico.) Meat of all kinds ends up crossing the border: While Canada has a thriving beef industry in the province of Alberta ("'Berta Beef," per the cult TV show "Letterkenny"), it also imports pork, poultry, and even seafood.

We talk about importation, but thanks to the existence of trade agreements between the United States, Canada and Mexico, our meat industries are actually pretty intertwined. If you're imagining people carrying giant coolers of steaks across the border, it's a lot more involved than that: Two-way movement is allowed across the border, and animals can be born, raised, slaughtered, and processed on either side of the border. Think of it like a bloodier version of studying abroad in Europe, where you can cross over from France to Belgium readily. (Maybe don't ask whether french fries are Belgian fries, though, or things could get bloody for real.)

But while Canada obviously has a close trade relationship with their loud, occasionally antagonistic downstairs neighbors, we're not the only country to which it sends meat. The number one country Canada imports pork to, for instance, is Japan. Why is that the case? Well, at least partly because the Trans Pacific Partnership makes that kind of trade easier. The majority of the pork exported is fresh or chilled rather than frozen, so presumably it's all going into delicious dishes like pork tonkotsu (which can be made better with the addition of bacon).