January 6, 2004
US-Mexico To Discuss Beef Ban
A U.S. trade delegation has traveled to Mexico to discuss the ban on U.S. beef following a Japanese farm official raising doubts on the safety measures carried out to curb the spread of the disease.
The USDA team to Mexico includes undersecretaries J.B. Penn and Bill Hawks.
Japan, Mexico and South Korea had been the top buyers of U.S. beef, and the USDA is focusing its efforts on restoring trade with them as quickly as possible.
In Tokyo, a senior Japanese farm ministry official expressed doubts on Monday about the effectiveness of safety measures announced by the U.S. after the discovery of mad cow disease, Kyodo news agency said. "They are not as effective as the ones being implemented in Japan," Vice Agriculture Minister Yoshiaki Watanabe was quoted as saying.
