Following the government’s announcement that it plans to conditionally lift the ban on US beef products containing residues of ractopamine, a US senator urged Taiwan to open the door to US pork products that contain residues of the feed additive.
In a statement dated Tuesday, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a ranking Republican in the US Senate, said the decision Taiwan has taken on US beef “should [also] apply to pork.”
Grassley said he was “encouraged” that the Taiwanese government would allow US beef products that contain traces of ractopamine into the country, but the announcement made by the government “falls far short of resolving this issue.”
The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday night proposed a four-point policy position on the use of ractopamine in livestock feed, based on the principles of “allowing a safe level of ractopamine in beef, separating the permits for importing beef and pork, clearly labeling beef imports and excluding imports of internal organs.”
The policy is pending approval by the legislature as lawmakers who oppose lifting the ban are set to introduce bills to regulate the use of ractopamine.
The Ma administration has yet to receive a formal response on the policy from the US, which has urged the nation to adopt a scientific approach to resolve the trade dispute, while Grassley became the first US politician to express discontent over the policy.
“The Taiwanese government has not set any allowable level of this additive for US pork imports. As I’ve said before, Taiwan must treat US agricultural products fairly, in accordance with scientific evidence, and in keeping with its trade obligations if it expects to maintain its status as a strong economic partner with the United States,” Grassley said in the statement posted on his Web site.
“There is no scientific reason for Taiwan to set residual levels of a certain additive for beef, but not pork. I hope Taiwan’s announcement was just a first step in the right direction toward more removal of the trade barriers hurting US farmers,” he said.
Chiu Chun-jung (邱俊榮), a professor of economics at National Central University, said the reaction from Grassley was predictable.
The Ma administration has put Taiwan in a dangerous situation by applying double standards to ractopamine residue limits in imported beef and pork, and the policy could cause international trade disputes, he said.
Taiwan would be asked to explain why it prohibits pork imports containing ractopamine residues when it considers ractopamine residue in beef safe for human consumption, he said.
Wang To-far (王塗發), a professor of economics at National Taipei University, expects more US lawmakers to follow suit and press Taiwan on US pork imports.
Wang said the Ma administration has yielded to US demands on beef imports without even negotiating on the issue and US pressure to expand market access opportunities for agriculture products would not stop with the beef issue.
“The double-standard approach is problematic,” Wang said. “This was what local swine farmers are worried about. Once the ban on beef imports containing ractopamine is lifted, there is no reason why the ban on pork should be kept in place.”
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