CONGRESS CONSIDERS ANOTHER SOLUTION TO EU BEEF BAN

WASHINGTON D.C. (Sept. 25, 2000) - The Trade Injury Compensation Act (TICA) could be another useful tool in the beef industry’s quest to move the European Union to comply with international trade rules, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said today.

The measure would allow funds collected from tariffs on more than $116 million in EU products to go directly to the cattle industry. The industry, in turn, would use some of the funds to educate EU consumers about the safety of U.S. beef, U.S. production practices and technologies, and the Food and Drug Administration approval process.

“The beef industry’s end goal is not retaliation against the European Union,” said Dana Hauck, a cattle producer from Delphos, Kan., and chairman of the beef industry’s International Markets Committee. Hauck submitted written testimony Monday to House members participating in a joint hearing of two Senate Agriculture subcommittees.

“We’d like to see the day when cattle producers have access to the EU market,” Hauck added.

TICA was introduced in the Senate earlier this year. Its goal is to compensate industries hurt by countries that fail to abide by international trade rules. TICA would mandate a national research and promotion board of producers, nominated by state organizations and appointed by the agriculture secretary, to administer programs funded by TICA. Besides educating EU consumers, other ideas for TICA include international and domestic education and research programs.

“Carousel retaliation is important and could eventually move the EU to comply with international trade rules,” Hauck said. “Meanwhile, cattle producers aren’t benefiting. TICA isn’t perfect, but it is designed to be as equitable to the U.S. beef industry as possible. Why not give the funds collected from trade disputes back to the industries that are harmed?”

NCBA continues to believe that the $116.8 million in tariffs on EU exports is a conservative estimate of the injury to the U.S. beef industry. The value of trade to EU would likely exceed $500 million annually as is evident by the increase in U.S. beef exports to the rest of the world. During 1999, for example, sales of U.S. beef to Mexico – a country with one-third the population and one-twentieth the per capita disposable income of the EU – exceeded $512 million.

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Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the  trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.