Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 6/20/18



As trade conflicts with China and Mexico threaten to curb U.S. pork exports to those market, the National Pork Producers Council is working to open other markets, including Thailand.

NPPC officials pressed their case at a U.S. Trade Representative hearing, calling Thailand’s ban on pork raised with the use of feed additive Ractopamine unfair and asking for Thailand’s preferential access to the U.S. market to be revoked or reduced if it does not change its policy.

Ractopamine promotes leanness in food animals. It is banned in a number of countries, but as NPPC notes, the additive was approved for use after numerous scientific assessments by world health organizations declared it safe.

“Thailand takes full advantage of special U.S. trade benefits, contributing significantly to its large trade surplus with the United States,” testified Maria Zieba, NPPC’s director of international affairs. “It does so while imposing a completely unjustified virtual ban on imports of U.S. pork. President Trump has called for reciprocity in our trading relationship with other countries, but there is no reciprocity at all in our trading relationship with Thailand when it comes to pork.”

Thailand is a beneficiary of the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which gives duty-free treatment to certain goods entering the United States. The program allows for removal of a country’s benefits if it fails to provide the United States “equitable and reasonable access” to its market.

Following an NPPC petition, USTR in May agreed to review Thailand’s eligibility for the U.S. GSP program. A letter signed by more than 40 members of the House of Representatives was also sent to Thailand’s ambassador to the United States, calling for restrictions on imports of U.S. farm products, including pork, to be removed.

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