Korea Trade Deal Falls Short, Conrad Says
Press Release
Senator Urges Seoul to Immediately Reopen its Market to American Beef
Senator Kent Conrad said he was increasingly skeptical about the announced trade deal between the United States and the Republic of Korea and that still more needs to be done to reopen the Asian nation's domestic market to American beef.
"The Administration portrays this as a landmark deal. This truth is, this is a lousy deal, one that continues to fail ranchers in North Dakota and across the nation," Senator Conrad said.
Yesterday, the White House announced that a bilateral free trade agreement had been concluded between Korea and the U.S. While the deal would create export opportunities for U.S. farmers and manufacturers, it still fails to lift strict limitations on the importation of U.S. beef.
South Korea - once America's third-largest overseas beef market -- closed its markets to U.S. beef following the December 2003 discovery of a case of mad cow disease in the United States. That particular cow was born in Canada. Senator Conrad has been fighting to reopen world markets to U.S. beef.
After the series of trade negations concluded on Sunday, Korea made only vague promises to lift trade barriers on U.S. beef in the near future. Then South Korea's Agriculture Minister announced that negotiations to establish new import guidelines for American beef will resume around June.
The trade agreement between Korea and the U.S. must now be ratified by Congress. Senator Conrad indicated he would continue to resist the agreement.
"We've seen these empty promises before and it's unacceptable for the White House to sign off on this trade agreement without Korea lifting its ban on U.S. beef," Senator Conrad said.
North Dakota's cattle industry had $800 million in cash receipts in 2005, representing 20 percent of overall North Dakota farm receipts.
Senator Conrad serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees farm and ranch policy, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade.
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