USTR: Substantial progress on barriers to ag trade
April 01, 2013 | 05:43 PM
The Obama administration has made substantial progress in convincing other countries to drop the non-tariff animal and plant health barriers to trade that are officially known as sanitary and phytosanitary or SPS barriers, acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said today, as he sent three new reports on trade barriers to Congress.
Marantis said the administration has had “great success” in eliminating SPS barriers to beef in places as varied as El Salvador and Hong Kong, while convincing the European Union to accept beef treated with lactic acid and convincing Colombia to reduce barriers to paddy rice and pork.
He also noted that USTR has convinced countries to accept U.S. certificates of “wholesomeness” and Brazil to accept the certification of U.S. meat processing facilities.
USTR today sent Congress the statutorily required National Trade Estimate Report, an annual report that identifies foreign barriers to American exports of goods and services, foreign direct investment, and protection of intellectual property rights, as well as the reports entitled Report on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Barriers to Trade, and a Report on Technical Barriers to Trade.
