February 24, 2005

 

 

US-Canadian cattle trade talks on track imports amid strict rules

 

Complex rules to regulate how Canadian cattle are allowed back into the United States will prevent an influx of the animals when the border is opened on March 7, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

 

This even while Washington has said that the country is on track to partially reopening the border to live Canadian cattle March 7 despite growing domestic political and legal opposition.

 

Canadian exporters will have to adapt to new regulations on everything from the way trucks are sealed to new age-verification procedures in order to ship cattle to the United States, the report quoted US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials as saying.

 

The USDA banned all Canadian cattle and beef in May 2003 after Canada reported its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease. A few months later, the USDA eased the ban in August only on Canadian beef, so long as it was boneless and from cattle younger than 30 months.

 

In December 2004, the USDA unveiled a plan to further open up trade with Canada by lifting its ban on live cattle younger than 30 months and beef from older animals by March 7. But on Feb. 9, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns decided to postpone letting in the beef from older animals.

 

The USDA has estimated that as many as two million head of Canadian cattle could cross the border in the 12 months following the lifting of the US ban, according to the report.

 

However, it will take at least six months to a year for full trade to resume after the devastating border closure prompted by the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Alberta almost two years ago.

 

The USDA has devised a "minimal risk rule'' to stop the spread of the brain-wasting disease.

 

A US cattlemen's group is challenging the department in court March 2 but chances are, the US government will act quickly to appeal even if they win.

 

Despite political opposition prompted by complaints from American ranchers, support in Congress for resuming the cattle trade is strong.

Canada's beef and cattle industry was shut out of the U.S. market in 2003 after the discovery of the first mad-cow case.

 

Estimates are that the closure cost the Canadian beef industry about $7 billion over the last 21 months. About $1 billion of that is due to the loss of trade in older animals.