South Africa Missed Deadline to Cut Sanitation Barriers for US Poultry, Say Lawmakers

The South African government allowed an Oct. 15 poultry reform deadline to lapse without implementing agreed-upon measures to allow U.S. exports to the South African market, said Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Chris Coons, D-Del., in an Oct. 19 statement (here). Those two lawmakers have led the charge over recent months to slash antidumping duties on U.S. exports and remove sanitation barriers (see 1509140023).

By Oct. 15, “South Africa should have issued both a trade protocol for avian influenza and a health certificate for U.S. poultry. Despite assurances by high-ranking South African officials, they have not met the set deadline,” said the lawmakers. “The U.S. has insisted that South Africa follow World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines to use a regional approach for avian influenza, but South Africa continues to resist that approach. Differences also remain on the health certificate.” The statement didn't mention the South African removal of AD duties on U.S. exports, a critical part of the U.S. call for South African reform.

The Office of U.S. Trade Representative should consider the Oct. 15 lapse in its ongoing out-of-cycle review for South Africa, said the lawmakers. USTR hasn’t released any findings so far on the review (see 1508070021).

Meanwhile, Bill Watson, a trade analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute, said the dispute shows that the U.S. should be focusing more strenuously on tackling "abusive" antidumping duties at the World Trade Organization. Current WTO rules on AD duties "allow too much discretion on the part of national authorities," said Watson in the paper (here), referring to the WTO's antidumping agreement. "Unfortunately, one of the greatest impediments to achieving global antidumping reform is the United States government. The U.S. trade negotiating agenda is staunchly opposed to any antidumping reform under domestic or international law."