American Agriculture Chief Against Quotas

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30512, 6 August 1964, Page 15

American Agriculture Chief Against Quotas

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyrlght) WASHINGTON, August 4. Mr Orville Freeman, the Secretary of Agriculture, again expressed his opposition yesterday to a Bill passed by the Senate last week, placing quotas on meat imports.

But the secretary, following a meeting with the American National Cattlemen’s Association, said that the United States must never become the dumping ground for world beef supplies and that imports must be watched closely. “On the question of import controls,” he declared, “so far as the department is concerned, it is not a question of ‘never’ but rather ‘not now’.” He added that the cattlemen’s objective of reducing imports was already achieved by the voluntary agreements with Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Ireland. The House of Representatives was urged today to approve the Senate Bill. Action Sought The action was called for by Representative Arnold Olsen, a Democrat from the beef-producing state of Montana. He introduced a resolution proposing immediate consideration of the Senate Bill. The measure would reduce imports considerably below those of last year by prescribing limits based on the five-year average ending on December 31, 1963. Representative Olsen’s move was seen as a challenge to the Democratic leadership of the House which has been slow to call up the Senate Bill for action.

The Bill is strongly opposed by the Johnson Administration which says that its objectives have already been achieved by agreements concluded earlier this year with the chief meat-exporting countries. Domestic Prices Supporters of the Bill argue that shipments from abroad have helped to depress domestic meat prices. The Administration has tried to refute this argument by stating that the beef imports were for manufacturing purposes, such as making hamburgers, and that the drop in domestic beef prices had not been caused by imports. The Secretary of State (Mr Dean Rusk) warned last Friday at a news conference that passage of the Bill could seriously damage the United States foreign trade programme. The Secretary of State added that a serious problem would arise if, as a result of passage of the Bill, America’s trading partners demanded compensation for an intrusion into their trading rights. To grant compensations might create serious difficulties for other sectors of the American economy, he said, particularly at a time when the United States was engaged in tariff negotiations. President Johnson is hoping that the House will reject the Senate Bill. 1963 Record Mr Freeman said that United States red meat production in 1963 was a record,

■ and 1964 promised to surpass ■ that. Yet prices for domes- ; tic beef had improved, helped i along by the Agriculture De- ■ partment’s purchase proi gramme exports through the ; food-for-peace programme and cash exports of 12,000,0001 b of beef to Europe. Prospects I for American beef exports i looked promising, he said. ; He told the cattlemen that the legislation they sought in i Congress would not reduce ; beef imports this year or next '. and that the danger of dump- ; ing had been averted by the ; voluntary agreements reached i with the major foreign beef i suppliers. The three-year length of the agreements, he said, • would allow the United States . to conduct critical trade nego- ; tiations involving agricultural products. But to legislate i quotas now would threaten ’ world markets for American wheat, rice and soybean and . feed-grain producers.