Taiwan is to ease restrictions on US beef and pork next year, allowing imports of pork containing the animal feed additive ractopamine, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months and older, a ban imposed amid public health concerns related to mad cow disease.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement on Friday caught many people off-guard, especially the local hog industry. Her government is hoping the relaxation will lead to a positive response from Washington regarding the possibility of entering into free-trade talks, but pig farmers are concerned that such imports would increase competition in the market and affect domestic pork prices, as their costs have risen considerably in recent years due to climate change, labor costs and epidemic prevention.
They wonder why the government would consider opening the market at this point, when it has been opposed to the idea for years.
It is easy to understand why the relaxation of US pork import restrictions is opposed by many in the local industry and it is natural to expect corresponding activities by some pig farmers, but the impact of US pork containing ractopamine on the market would be much smaller than that of imports without ractopamine, such as Canadian pork, given that local pork accounts for about 90 percent of the market.
If the government can strictly regulate country-of-origin labeling for pork imports, opening the market to US imports would have a limited effect, as consumers could choose whether they want to eat locally produced, US, Canadian or Spanish products.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) criticized the announcement based on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Tsai’s long-time zero-tolerance policy on ractopamine in meat products, but the KMT must realize that while no one really wanted to lift the import restrictions, the pressure to do so has become unavoidable.
The KMT should have applauded the administration’s efforts to adopt international standards to resolve this longstanding issue — despite pressure from local pig farmers — recognizing that it would have faced the same headache again if it regained power.
On the other hand, the current atmosphere appears especially favorable for Taiwan to foster closer trade relations with the US, as well as to play an influential role in the US-led restructuring of global supply chains in the post-COVID era — if the government is willing to seize the opportunity and resolve the issues of US beef and pork imports.
Taiwan is an export-reliant economy and the US is the nation’s second-largest trading partner. If the government aims to engage in a free, fair and reciprocal trade deal with the US, but gets stuck because of issues such as US pork and beef imports, the overall impact on the economy would be even worse.
While the government has promised to adopt international standard inspection procedures for imported pork and beef, and pledged to set up a NT$10 billion (US$338.74 million) fund to support the domestic hog industry and mitigate any impact on farmers, it is necessary to improve the labeling of meat products. Stricter labeling would not only help ameliorate consumers’ worries, but aid in the promotion of Taiwan’s pork product exports once the nation is declared free of foot-and-mouth disease later this year.
The government should also disclose the national health assessment report, the progress of Taiwan-US relations and the nation’s status in regional trade blocs, so that the public can better understand Taiwan’s situation.
The rest is up to consumers. If they do not want to buy US imports, they will not, and the demand for such imports will naturally wither. They will not be buying a pig in a poke.
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