Livestock producers eager to resolve dispute with Mexico

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

Livestock groups are pleased with a proposal to resolve a U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking dispute that has resulted in a 5 percent tariff on pork products shipped south.

The U.S. Department of Transportation this month released a "concept document" for allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways, which would satisfy the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

The program, which calls for thorough vetting and monitoring of trucks and drivers entering the U.S. from Mexico, could end tariffs on pork and nearly 100 other American agricultural products imposed over the last two years.

That would be positive news for U.S. pork producers, whose exports to Mexico have dropped by 11 percent since that country announced in August that it would hit some U.S. pork products with a retaliatory duty.

"It just now costs more to get pork in there, or the pork that gets in there costs the Mexicans more, so our sales are off," said Dave Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council.

From August through October, pork exports to Mexico were down 17 percent from the same period in 2009, Warner said. At the same time, Canadian pork shipments to Mexico for the same periods rose nearly 200 percent, he said.

"This is definitely hurting us," he said. "We're pleased that the administration is working toward resolving this issue."

Mexico bought $762 million worth of U.S. pork in 2009, according to the NPPC. Since 1993, the year before NAFTA was implemented, pork exports there had grown by 580 percent before the tariff was imposed, the NPPC asserts.

The NPPC and other farm groups agree with Mexico's assertion that the U.S. hasn't lived up to its obligations under NAFTA, under which the U.S. was supposed to begin allowing Mexican trucks into the country in 1995. A pilot program implemented in 2007 had allowed Mexican trucks in, but Congress stripped it of funding after two years.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association echoed the NPPC's praise of the new trucking proposal, calling on the Obama administration to end the dispute as quickly as possible.

"If this thing is resolved, we think it would have a hugely positive impact on the (beef) industry," said Colin Woodall, the NCBA's vice president of government affairs.

"Mexico remains one of our top markets," he said. "The fact that they're using retaliation against U.S. products because of this dispute has caused us a lot of concern. They always rotate (retaliatory tariffs), so U.S. beef could be a part of it."

The American Meat Institute also hailed the trucking proposal, noting the importance of one of the U.S.'s closest trading partners to the meat and poultry sectors.

"We are very hopeful that this issue will be quickly resolved and duties on U.S. pork products into Mexico will be eliminated," AMI spokesman Dave Ray said in an e-mail.

Online

U.S. Department of Transportation concept document: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/cross-border/Concept-Trucks-English.pdf