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Free Trade Agreement Costly for U.S. Beef Market The NCBA does not support an expanded Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), according to NCBA President-elect Wythe Willey. "We have felt all along that problems with NAFTA should be resolved and markets should be allowed to come into equilibrium before additional countries were added to the mix," Willey said. "We believe that agricultural issues should be addressed in the context of comprehensive multi-lateral trade negotiations, and we do not support including agriculture as part of a regional FTAA agreement." The U.S. became the largest beef exporter during 2000, Willey explained. However, the U.S. could export significantly more if other countries abide by the same rules as the U.S. beef markets. Currently, in other developed countries, as in the EU, the market is virtually closed to U.S. beef. Other markets, such as Japan and Korea, protect themselves by relatively high tariffs. "Access to the U.S. beef market is already relatively unrestricted and there is a perception throughout the U.S. industry that we have granted more access than we have gained during past negotiations," Willey says. "NCBA will not support increased access to the U.S. beef market until meaningful access and tariff reduction is achieved in other major beef importing countries." Willey further explained that because many FTAA countries are major beef exporters and many major beef importers are in Asia and Europe, increasing the market for U.S. beef can only be achieved through comprehensive multi-lateral WTO negotiations -- not regional FTAA negotiations. |
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