Frustration with Russia's Ban of U.S. Meat Imports

Frustration with Russia's Ban of U.S. Meat Imports

Frustration with Russian Ban of U.S. Beef and Pork

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

A Russia consumer watchdog says an almost full ban on imports of U.S. beef and pork products over the feed additive ractopamine may be lengthy.

Russia has pressed the United States to certify that its pork and beef exports are ractopamine-free -- but USDA has opposed the trade requirement -- saying it breaks Russia’s commitments as a member of the World Trade Organization. Despite repeated U.S. requests to discuss the safety of ractopamine, Russia has refused to engage in any constructive dialogue and instead has simply issued the ban.

President and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation Phil Seng expresses his group’s frustration with Russia’s latest move Monday to suspended U.S. meat imports.

Seng: “We favored Russia joining the WTO after 18 or 19 years of trying to get into it. We at that point were expecting that they would conform to these international norms -- which is the reason that people get into this. It is a discipline trade situation. At this point, the Russians have just flagrantly ignored this. We were encouraged by the Codex Alimentarius vote obviously on ractopamine -- again that is the international body that the WTO references as far as science. We are looking at this point at a way to uphold the science that is the cornerstone of our agricultural trade policy but also find a way to export to the Russian market.”
 

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