Nelson Prepares Measure to Reinstate Fairness in Beef Trade with Japan
NELSON PREPARES MEASURE TO REINSTATE FAIRNESS IN BEEF TRADE WITH JAPAN
If Trade Does Not Resume, Nebraska's Senator Prepared to Block Japanese Beef Imports Until Japan Lifts Ban on U.S. Beef Products
Though the Japanese bureaucracy is showing some signs of progress in lifting their embargo on U.S. beef products, Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson is preparing a legislative proposal that is designed to reinstate fairness and a two way street of beef trade between the United States and Japan.
Japan's embargo on U.S. beef products over the last three years has cost the Nebraska beef industry $875 million and cost Nebraska 1300 jobs. Nelson believes the ongoing embargo is unfair and the cumbersome Japanese bureaucracy is moving too slow to reinstate beef trade with the United States. Nelson has been in constant communication with Japanese officials, including Japan's Ambassador to the United States, Ryozo Kato, trying to work out a solution to the trade impasse.
"In April I told Japan that my patience with their unfair ban on U.S. beef would run out on June 1st unless they either resumed importing U.S. beef or had in place a formal plan for resuming imports," Senator Nelson said today. "Although progress has been made, I'm still disappointed that we don't yet have a final resolution. This is about fairness, our beef is safe, and trade should resume immediately."
When he returns to the Senate next week, Nelson plans to introduce legislation that would halt the importing of Japanese beef products until fairness in trade has been restored. Highlights of the bill:
Within 30 days of the bill passing the US Trade Representative is required to provide certification to Congress that beef trade with Japan has resumed.
If certification does not occur within 30 days, the bill then requires the United States to discontinue importing beef from Japan until the Japanese market is certified as open to U.S. beef products.
"My plan is very straightforward. Either Japan has to once again accept US beef, or we will no longer accept Japanese beef," said Nelson. "This is about restoring fairness with regard to beef trade with Japan."
Nelson has written to Japanese Ambassador Kato every week, for fourteen weeks, trying to get the Japanese bureaucracy to move more quickly to reinstate beef trade with the United States and offering solutions and reaffirming that U.S. beef is the safest and highest quality in the world. Nelson has met with Ambassador Kato personally several times.
Ambassador Kato has informed Nelson that public hearings will begin this week in Japan informing the public of the steps being taken to ensure safety and compliance for reopening beef trade with the US. This will be followed by inspections of US plants where beef is shipped to Japan. As these inspections are completed, these individual plants will either open on a rolling basis or all at once after the completion of all inspections. Nelson prefers a "rolling opening" so as to begin even incremental trading as soon as possible.
Nelson plans to push his legislation to ban Japanese beef imports if further delays in reopening trade develop or if additional barriers are implemented by Japan.
Last fall when the Japanese embargo on US beef was nearing two years, Nelson introduced an amendment to stop the implementation of a rule that would allow Japan to start importing Japanese beef into the United States until the Japanese agreed to reopen their borders to US beef again. This amendment passed the Senate with an overwhelming 72-26 vote.
http://bennelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=256347&&