US Again Urges Japan to Lift Beef Import Ban By Year-End

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Pusan, South Korea, 15 November: US Trade Representative Robert Portman repeated Washington’s request in a meeting Tuesday [15 November] with Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai that Tokyo lift its two-year-old ban on US beef over mad cow disease by the end of the year, a Japanese government official said.

Portman, who held bilateral talks with Nikai on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum ministerial talks in Pusan, South Korea, reiterated the year-end deadline, which was set in a US Senate bill introduced in late October for Japan to remove the ban or face economic sanctions, the official said.

Nikai said Japan is aware of strong US interest in removal of the embargo and told Portman that he will convey his message to those concerned, he said. In Japan, the agricultural minister is directly in charge of the beef import ban.

Tokyo has banned US beef imports since December 2003, when the first US case of mad cow disease was found in a Canadian-born cow in the state of Washington. Japan was the largest importer of US beef before then.

Japan is expected to complete its domestic process and lift the embargo by the end of this year as an expert panel gave the green light in late October to ending the ban for younger cows.

Portman also asked Nikai that Japan fairly implement its postal privatization reforms now that a bill for the goals has passed parliament, the official said.

The USTR said US insurance companies have shown interest in the issue, according to the official. Those firms have repeatedly urged the Japanese government to secure level playing fields for foreign businesses once government-linked postal entities which handle insurance business as well in Japan are privatized.

The two also agreed to cooperate with each other in drafting anti- piracy guidelines during the APEC ministerial meeting and in seeking information on China’s intellectual property enforcement efforts in a special process under the World Trade Organization, the official said.

The United States, Japan and Switzerland are jointly trying to obtain information from China by 23 January based on a WTO rule.

US President George W. Bush is also expected to raise the issues of the beef import ban and Japan’s postal privatization during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday in Kyoto, the country’s ancient capital, the official said.