Sandhusker
Well-known member
Korea FTA Could Provide Substantial Benefits
to U.S. Cattle Producers
(Billings, Mont.) – In February, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced its intent to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of Korea. Korea is the world's 10th largest economy and the United States' seventh largest export market, with an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $1 trillion.
On Tuesday, Doug Zalesky, a Colorado cattle producer who chairs R-CALF USA's International Trade Committee, testified in Washington, D.C., at the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee hearing on this particular FTA. USTR had sought public comments to assist the office in "amplifying and clarifying negotiating objectives for the proposed agreements and to provide advice on how specific goods and services and other matters should be treated under the proposed agreement."
Korea traditionally has been an important market for U.S. beef exports – the third largest market for U.S. beef products before closing its border after the December 2003 discovery of a BSE-positive Canadian cow in Washington state.
R-CALF USA's position, regarding any FTA, is that U.S. cattle producers can compete and thrive in global markets if the rules that regulate those markets are fair. Today, U.S. 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 harmonize 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 program 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.
"Once negotiations commence, Korea must agree to drastically reduce its high tariffs on U.S. beef products," said Zalesky.
"Additionally, an FTA with Korea should include special rules for perishable and cyclical products with very limited marketing periods – cattle and beef – that would provide U.S. 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 explained. "Inclusion of such fundamental rules – an obvious prerequisite to market liberalization – will facilitate competition in the global marketplace while simultaneously allowing the U.S. and other nations to maintain viable cattle industries.
"Any FTA providing preferential access to the U.S. cattle and beef market should include a 'born, raised and slaughtered (BRS) rule of origin for beef, which would present significant advantages for the U.S. cattle industry," said Zalesky. "Currently, the U.S. only requires cattle to be slaughtered in a country to be considered an originating good from that country, and the current inadequate rule of origin continues to be applied in other FTAs.
"Inclusion of a BRS rule of origin will prevent third-country producers from taking advantage of market access negotiated in the agreement and ensure that the benefits of the agreement accrue to its participants," noted Zalesky.
"It's important that trade agreements achieve the right balance between the size of new export markets opened for U.S. producers and the volume of potential foreign production given preferential access to the United States, and the Korea FTA provide an opportunity to move toward such balance by addressing harmful market distortions in a vitally important export market," he added.
"With each of these elements in place, potential harm to our domestic cattle industry can be minimized, and if Korea reciprocates those benefits to the U.S., these steps will also help build support in the domestic cattle industry for fair and balanced trade, and help safeguard the livelihoods of thousands of independent U.S. cattle producers," Zalesky concluded.
to U.S. Cattle Producers
(Billings, Mont.) – In February, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced its intent to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of Korea. Korea is the world's 10th largest economy and the United States' seventh largest export market, with an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $1 trillion.
On Tuesday, Doug Zalesky, a Colorado cattle producer who chairs R-CALF USA's International Trade Committee, testified in Washington, D.C., at the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee hearing on this particular FTA. USTR had sought public comments to assist the office in "amplifying and clarifying negotiating objectives for the proposed agreements and to provide advice on how specific goods and services and other matters should be treated under the proposed agreement."
Korea traditionally has been an important market for U.S. beef exports – the third largest market for U.S. beef products before closing its border after the December 2003 discovery of a BSE-positive Canadian cow in Washington state.
R-CALF USA's position, regarding any FTA, is that U.S. cattle producers can compete and thrive in global markets if the rules that regulate those markets are fair. Today, U.S. 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 harmonize 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 program 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.
"Once negotiations commence, Korea must agree to drastically reduce its high tariffs on U.S. beef products," said Zalesky.
"Additionally, an FTA with Korea should include special rules for perishable and cyclical products with very limited marketing periods – cattle and beef – that would provide U.S. 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 explained. "Inclusion of such fundamental rules – an obvious prerequisite to market liberalization – will facilitate competition in the global marketplace while simultaneously allowing the U.S. and other nations to maintain viable cattle industries.
"Any FTA providing preferential access to the U.S. cattle and beef market should include a 'born, raised and slaughtered (BRS) rule of origin for beef, which would present significant advantages for the U.S. cattle industry," said Zalesky. "Currently, the U.S. only requires cattle to be slaughtered in a country to be considered an originating good from that country, and the current inadequate rule of origin continues to be applied in other FTAs.
"Inclusion of a BRS rule of origin will prevent third-country producers from taking advantage of market access negotiated in the agreement and ensure that the benefits of the agreement accrue to its participants," noted Zalesky.
"It's important that trade agreements achieve the right balance between the size of new export markets opened for U.S. producers and the volume of potential foreign production given preferential access to the United States, and the Korea FTA provide an opportunity to move toward such balance by addressing harmful market distortions in a vitally important export market," he added.
"With each of these elements in place, potential harm to our domestic cattle industry can be minimized, and if Korea reciprocates those benefits to the U.S., these steps will also help build support in the domestic cattle industry for fair and balanced trade, and help safeguard the livelihoods of thousands of independent U.S. cattle producers," Zalesky concluded.
