06/06/07 Trade Follies

If didn't continue to negatively impact our nations cattle producers the situation would seem almost laughable, worthy of a Leno joke. So who's the fool? The super power who allows tainted food from Asia to flow to it's citizens unchecked or the little country that bans the safest and most affordable source of protein, American beef for the sake of political ping-pong? Japan continues to snub their nose at US beef despite the fact the World Organization for Animal Health, just gave our beef a clean bill of health, virtually the second highest safety rating, stating that all of US beef can be safely traded. Except of course to persnickety Japan who remains focused on the political folly that Ag Secretary Mike Johanns calls "one of the ultimate trade distortions without science that I have ever seen". While steaks from 35 million head of cattle slaughtered each year in the US sizzle away on our grills, Japan won't budge on it's policy towards US beef. Meanwhile the flow of tainted imports continues to flood our country while our trade policies remain unchanged. .