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US Congress warns Japan of possible sanctions over beef
The US Congress threatened possible sanctions against Japan if it did not lift a 21-month ban on imports of American beef, putting pressure on President George W. Bush to resolve the biggest pending bilateral issue. "At some point you draw a line, this hearing is drawing the line. There are no more tomorrows," Bill Thomas, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives ways and means committee, told US government officials after they testified on the beef issue and other market access problems with Japan. "It is absolutely stonewalling," a fuming Thomas said of Japan's reluctance to ease the ban on US beef, which is draining the American cattle industry 100 million dollars every month. Thomas did not say what measures would be taken but the Republican head of the Senate Agriculture Committee Saxby Chambliss said Tuesday that trade sanctions might have to be taken to underline growing US frustration at Japan's failure to lift the ban.
Moran, who hails from the largest beef-producing state in the nation, demanded that a pending House bill seeking sanctions on Tokyo be put to a vote to "show Japan the serious nature of this trade issue." "Japan cannot have it both ways -- they cannot benefit from exports to the US while denying our imports, such as beef, with no scientific evidence to support their actions," he said. Loss of revenue from the US beef ban is having "a large and negative impact on our entire beef industry and puts at risk our well established bilateral trade relationship," he said. Some 10,000 jobs have been lost since the ban. The US Senate voted last week to ban imports of a Japanese delicacy, Kobe beef, until Tokyo lifts the ban on US beef. Kobe beef comes from cattle massaged with sake and fed a diet enriched with beer. Tokyo had imposed the ban after the United States confirmed its first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. Japan, the biggest importer of US beef before the ban, said in October last year that it would exempt US cattle aged 20 months or younger from screening if high-risk parts such as brains and spinal cords were removed. But the government has yet to lift the ban as the main dispute with the United States remains unresolved over how to verify the age of the cattle. Wendy Cutler, the assistant US Trade Representative, told lawmakers who rained criticism on her: "We share your frustration over the glacial speed with which Japan has been moving to reopen its market to US beef." The Bush administration has transmitted a "huge amount" of scientific information to the Japanese government on the safety of US beef but there is no decision "and this is very disappointing," she said. Jim McAdams, the president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, warned in his testimony, "If we don't get positive resolution on this issue, the alternative is an ugly drawn out trade war that benefits no one and results in protectionist policies and chaos in commerce. "All we're asking for is the opportunity to sell the same beef we feed our families everyday to the world's consumers." Ellen Terpstra, the administrator of the foreign agricultural service in the US Department of Agriculture, said the beef ban was the biggest pending issue with Tokyo and had been raised at the highest levels possible but to no avail. Bush took up the matter with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi several times. "The Japanese assure us they are working through the process to reopen their market to safe US beef," Terpstra said. "As time quickly passes, those assurances ring hollow -- the time to act is now," he said.
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