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R-CALF
USA Revised
July 13, General
Trade Position: R-CALF
participates on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives (USTR) Agricultural
Trade Advisory Committee (ATAC); it is the only cattle-producer organization
with active seats on the Business Forum for the Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA)
agreement; it is responsible for the request by U.S. Senators to expand the
ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce to determine if the
foreign subsidization of beef and cattle operate to enhance exports from these
foreign countries into the U.S., or if they impede market access of U.S. cattle
and beef into their markets; it
continues to participate in trade negotiations both through direct participation
and written comments; and it closely monitors international trade issues
affecting U.S. cattle producers. R-CALF USA believes that liberalized
trade, as represented by present and future trade agreements, can only be
sustainable if they benefit all participating countries and sectors. In the cattle and beef sector, trade liberalization of the
past has not been mutually beneficial due to substantial distortions that affect
most markets and result in a lack of transparency in pricing structures. R-CALF
USA’s support for further trade liberalization is premised upon the
elimination of such distortions and a genuine leveling of the playing field. Specific
Trade Positions: Country
of Origin—Country of origin rules in all future trade agreements should
include that cattle and beef derived from cattle, as a minimum, must be born,
raised (back-grounded and fed), and slaughtered in the country claiming
origination in order to qualify for preferential tariff treatment.
Tariff
Shifts—Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) product-shift
rule of origin, cattle and beef from a non-NAFTA country can be shipped into a
NAFTA country and slaughtered or further processed.
Once slaughtered or further processed, a tariff shift occurs and the
product derived from such cattle or beef is deemed to be a product of the NAFTA
country and qualifies for a tariff of zero when entering the United States.
R-CALF USA recommends the elimination of such tariff shifts for all
future agreements and believes the country of origin requirement stated above
when applied to cattle and beef will address this problem. Tariffs—United
States tariffs are one-fifth of that of our trading partners, making ours the
most assessable market in the world. Given
this great imbalance in tariff application, the United States must seek tariff
parity for both cattle and beef. We
should expedite duty reductions to zero for imports of live cattle as long as
such duty reductions are simultaneous with those of our trading partners and we
should immediately begin negotiating for tariff parity for both cattle and beef
with other countries. Given their
differing treatment, negotiations on beef must be conducted separately from live
cattle. Tariff
Rate Quotas (TRQ)—The United States must maintain its right to impose
Tariff Rate Quotas due to the price sensitive nature of such a perishable
agricultural product as produced by the U.S. cattle industry.
Tariff Rate Quotas became operative upon the implementation of the
Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1995 and represent one of the few tools
available to weather periods of economic difficulty. Special Safeguards—The United States should ensure that the special safeguard mechanism for cattle and beef remain intact. Article 5 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture permits countries to impose additional duties in the event that the volume of imports of a particular product exceeds a threshold or trigger level, or if the price of those imports falls below a trigger price level. This is another tool to address sudden surges of beef imports. United
States Trade Laws—R-CALF
USA was instrumental in generating support for the bipartisan letter 62 United
States Senators sent to President Bush urging him not to weaken U.S. trade
laws. Over 40 agricultural organizations joined in support of this initial
letter and over 60 additional agriculture organizations joined in a subsequent
letter to the President reinforcing the original message conveyed by the
Senators. Antidumping
and Countervailing Duty Laws—These existing laws must be maintained and
strengthened in future agreements. Improvements must be made to facilitate the filing of
petitions by disparate agricultural producers.
Specifically, one federal agency should be able to provide information to
another with which to develop a confidential database for random sampling.
R-CALF USA and many other cattle groups strongly oppose efforts by beef
industry groups that are attempting to redefine our antidumping and
countervailing duty laws. Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Standards—Such standards must be based upon science and
the U.S. must maintain its ability to prevent the importation of products that,
according to scientific evidence, present clear health and safety risks. The
U.S. should maintain a window of no imports for a suggested period of
four years after an outbreak of FMD and for a suggested period of not
less than nine years in the case of BSE post eradication. Perishable
Product—Cattle and beef should be included as a perishable product in all
trade negotiations. Special rules
as authorized for certain products under Article 5 of the WTO Agricultural
Agreement (special safeguard: both volume and price triggers) should be
established within the WTO. Such
special rules have been recommended by many of the nation’s state agricultural
commissioners. USDA
Grade Stamp—This brand of excellence should be limited only to cattle
born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. and should be discontinued for use on
imported cattle and beef products. Exchange Rate Manipulations—Currency exchange rates have a major impact on the trade flows of cattle and beef. The U.S. should establish a means to effectively determine when a trading partner’s currency is undervalued as well as a plan for initiating effective corrective actions. |
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This page was last updated on Wednesday, December 24, 2008. |
