March 8, 2010

Toyota case may force open Japan market for US beef

Angered by the ongoing restriction on US beef exports, a US Senator may be ready to use the recent Toyota case to force Japan to fully reopen its beef market.

Senator Mike Johanns said there was never a death in Japan because of the single case of a Canadian cow found with BSE in the US, yet Japan has shut out US beef to this day. He alleged told US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the US should treat Toyotas in the same way as they did to US beef.

Toyota cars were recently found with dangerous safety defects, leading to a mass recall.

Johanns told Japanese Ambassador Fujisaki Ichiro that he would not advocate doing anything to Japan in response to the Toyota situation that Japan has not done to the US. However, he warned that does not speak optimistically for Japan's future in US trade.

He stressed that he is not advocating that the US close its borders to Japanese products, but that he intend to push this issue as Japan's treatment on US beef is blatantly unfair and the issue must be fixed.

Japan banned US beef in December 2003 after BSE was found in a US herd. Japan in 2006 agreed to resume US imports on the condition that age and portion limits were imposed on cattle at the time of slaughter. In particular, cattle parts deemed to be high in BSE infection risk are banned. The US had lobbied for full market access for a long time but to no avail.

Johanns said there were no scientific grounds for the restriction, claiming it was an economic sanction. He said he asked the ambassador what would happen if the US did not want any car parts from Japan until they can promise there are absolutely no defects.

He said that is what Japan is doing to the US beef industry, and a similar move would definitely be economically devastating to Japan.