Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 4/2/10

Efforts by the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA to reopen markets that closed to imports of U.S. pork last year following an H1N1 outbreak exemplify the current administration's increasing focus on eliminating trade barriers to American exports.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk this week submitted to Congress the National Trade Estimate, along with two reports specifically outlining key sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) barriers that U.S. agricultural and food producers currently face while trying to sell their products overseas. All three reports and related fact sheets are available here.

Following a collaborative effort by USTR, USDA and other official bodies to demonstrate the safety of U.S. pork, nearly all countries have lifted bans they imposed on U.S. pork on fears of H1N1, Jane Doherty, USTR's director of sanitary and phytosanitary affairs, said in a media briefing Wednesday.

"This report [shows] what we've accomplished and what we are going to do going forward," Doherty told reporters.

Other barriers Washington continues to battle include:

• Avian influenza: AI bans on U.S. poultry "appear to be inconsistent with science and the relevant guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)," USTR said in a fact sheet. Over the past two years, 36 countries have lifted such bans and Washington continues to eliminate other existing AI bans.
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy: Almost 30 countries impose BSE-related restrictions that do not meet OIE standards on U.S. live cattle and beef products. "Restoring full access for U.S. beef and beef products…is a priority of the U.S. government," USTR states.
• Pathogens: Many trading partners have implemented "unreasonable" standards for salmonella and other pathogens on imported U.S. poultry products.
• Ractopamine: Despite scientific evidence supporting the safety of this drug, many important trading partners continue to ban U.S. pork containing residues of ractopamine

Kirk first promised a sharper focus on SPS and technical barriers to trade in July 2009.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.