House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte issued the following statement today regarding the reopening of the Japanese market to U.S. beef:
“I am pleased that the Japanese government has taken the necessary steps toward reopening their markets to U.S. beef products. This is good news for U.S. beef producers. Our producers work hard to provide U.S. and international consumers with the safest and least expensive food supply in the world. We have long encouraged our trading partners to take a science-based approach in their trading policies and I hope this will serve as an example to other countries that continue to impose unscientific trade barriers on U.S. products. This is an important step toward normalizing trade and regaining market access for our producers.
This is only the first step needed to fully reopen the Japanese market to U.S. beef imports and there is still more work to be done. I encourage the Japanese government to continue toward the goal of completely reopening its market to U.S. beef.
This positive development would not have been possible without the coordinated efforts of President Bush and his team including Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Ambassador Rob Portman, our industry partners, and my colleagues on the Agriculture Committee as well as Senator Chambliss and Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee."
http://democrats-agriculture.house.gov
Source: House Committee on Agriculture
