Grassley, Baucus Urge White House to Keep Pressure on Japan to Accept U.S. Beef
Letter
Grassley, Baucus Urge White House to Keep Pressure on Japan to Accept U.S. Beef
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus are urging President Bush to stay directly involved in efforts to have Japan lift its ban on beef from the United States.
Grassley and Baucus, who serve as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance, delivered their message in a letter sent today. The Finance Committee has international trade jurisdiction.
The text of the senators' letter follows here.
September 20, 2005
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
Earlier this year, we wrote to thank you for your direct involvement in encouraging Japan to lift its ban on U.S. beef exports. Unfortunately, little progress has been made since that time. The United States cattle and beef industries are losing hundreds of millions of dollars each month that the Japanese market remains closed to U.S. beef products. American ranches and
meatpacking jobs have been lost, and many others have been put at risk.
In October of 2004 - ten months after Japan first imposed a ban on U.S. beef in December 2003 - the United States and Japan signed a framework agreement to remove the ban. It has been nearly one year since that October 2004 agreement, but beef products from farms and ranches in Iowa, Montana, and elsewhere in America appear no closer to appearing on Japanese store shelves.
The Japanese government, pursuant to the October 2004 agreement, is currently involved in a process to determine when and how to resume imports of U.S. beef products. We are concerned, however, that this administrative process is leading to an indefinite delay in the Japanese resuming U.S. beef imports. We urge you to continue pressing the Japanese to conclude their administrative process and resume U.S. beef imports before this issue becomes an even greater irritant in U.S.-Japanese trade and economic relations.
Thank you for your efforts on this important issue. We look forward to working with you to resolve this problem.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Max Baucus
Ranking Member
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