Chamber of Commerce Pressures Catfish Inspection Program Elimination
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Catfish Inspection Program violates the World Trade Organization Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement by creating a deliberate trade restriction that lacks adequate risk determination, said U.S. Chamber of Commerce Head of International Affairs Myron Brilliant in a Jan. 6 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. Lawmakers and industry leaders have applied pressure for the program’s repeal in the lead-up to the anticipated release of a Farm Bill conference final report (see 13121124).
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“This wasteful program undercuts the administration’s efforts to identify and eliminate unlawful non-tariff barriers to U.S. exports around the world, and, if implemented, will expose American exporters to retaliation for a policy they do not support and did not help to create,” said Brilliant. “In the shift to USDA, catfish producers abroad -- including those with excellent food safety records under existing FDA regulation -- will lose access to the U.S. market for years, until USDA agrees that overseas regulators have an approach equivalent to that of the United States.” The program’s repeal will remove a “significant obstacle” to advancing U.S. trade interests among Pacific Rim nations as the U.S. seeks to close the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Brilliant.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the letter.