March 17, 2006

 

US cattle group backs FTA with South Korea

 

 

A US cattle producers group backs a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea as long as a few stipulations are included.

 

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America said in a release that its "position, regarding any FTA, is that US cattle producers can compete and thrive in global markets if the rules that regulate those markets are fair," the release stated. "Today, US exports of cattle and beef are thwarted by high import tariffs abroad, large subsidies to cattle producers and beef producers in other countries and a failure to harmonise health and safety standards to allow for increased trade while protecting animal health and consumer safety."

 

"While many of these issues may be most comprehensively addressed at a global level, progress can also be made through a strategic programme of bilateral and regional negotiations, and this particular negotiation presents an important opportunity to address some of these distortions with a country that has been a key export market," R-CALF USA said.

 

In February, the US Trade Representative announced its intent to negotiate an FTA with South Korea, the world's tenth largest economy and the US's seventh largest export market, with an annual gross domestic product of US$1 trillion.

 

South Korea traditionally has been an important market for US beef exports--the third largest market for US beef products before closing its border after the December 2003 discovery of a Canadian cow in Washington state with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

 

On Tuesday, Doug Zalesky, chairman of R-CALF USA's International Trade Committee, testified in Washington DC, at the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee hearing on this particular free-trade agreement, according to the R-CALF USA release.

 

Zalesky said that once negotiations begin, South Korea must agree to significantly reduce its high tariffs on US beef products.

 

"Additionally, an FTA with (South) Korea should include special rules for perishable and cyclical products with very limited marketing periods--cattle and beef--that would provide US cattle producers with automatic safeguards of effective and speedy relief mechanisms that would trigger automatically if producers are faced with the severe risks of import surges or price volatility," Zalesky said.

 

He said that including such rules was "an obvious prerequisite to market liberalisation" and would help US cattle producers compete in global markets. They also would allow the US and other nations to keep their own cattle industries viable.

 

Zalesky also urged language insisting on a "born, raised and slaughtered," or BRS, rule of origin for beef. Currently, the US only requires cattle to be slaughtered in a given country to be considered a product of that country.

 

Inclusion of a BRS rule of origin will prevent third-country producers from taking advantage of negotiated market access and could ensure that the benefits of the agreement stay with its participants, he said.