Voluntary Beef Quotas Not An ‘lmport Control’

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30406, 3 April 1964, Page 12

Voluntary Beef Quotas Not An ‘lmport Control’

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, April 2. “I take it upon myself to publicly announce to New Zealand farmers that the United States places no restriction on the importation of beef from this country,” said Sir Arthur Tyndall today. He was thanking Mr H. F. Newsom, second secretary and economic officer of the American Embassy, for an address to the New Zealand American Association. Mr Newsom had said there were only five commodities on which the United States exercised import controls: wheat, cotton, sugar, peanuts and dairy products. Replying to queries from Sir Arthur Tyndall about United States beef imports, Mr Newsom said beef quotas had been voluntarily agreed to by New Zealand and were not equivalent to import control.

Sir Arthur Tyndall: Surely that is just a matter of semantics?

Mr Newsom said New Zealand’s import licensing and tariff structure were two factors that affected America’s

trade with New Zealand more than American trade with many other countries. He said the number of inquiries referred by the recent United States trade mission to American firms was Well above expectations and also well above average. “However, there are many things which influence the amount of business that will occur as a result of these referrals. In fact there are probably more outside factors that affect United States exports to New Zealand than affect our trade with many other countries.

“I refer to the ceiling on imports and the practice of issuing licences to established importers based on their past licensing histories.”