How Trump could trigger a bust in the American West

Nearly two years ago, Brian Levin found himself in Japan, covered head-to-toe in beef and posing for a photograph with John F. Kennedy’s daughter. It was all part of a plan to get his product, a high-end beef jerky, into the Japanese market. Wearing a Velcro suit that allowed people to rip packages of beef jerky off it, Levin, the chief executive of a brand called Perky Jerky, appeared beside Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, at a trade show promoting U.S. food. It was a big opportunity for the brand, and others like it. In 2013, Japan finally eased restrictions on American beef imports established a decade earlier, when fears of mad cow disease chilled demand for U.S. meat. In its first year, Levin projected, his company would earn about $3 million in Japan.