Deputy US Trade Representative Robert Holleyman says that the issue of US beef and pork imports to Taiwan has complicated ongoing discussions on a bilateral investment agreement (BIA). The US and Taiwan held a 9th round of trade talks under the Trade Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in Taipei on Thursday.
Taiwan had banned US beef imports due to traces of the leanness enhancing drug ractopamine. That restriction was lifted in 2012, setting the stage for the resumption of TIFA talks in 2013.
However, Deputy Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao says that the US does not believe Taiwan is complying with its agreement on US meat imports to Taiwan. That’s because Taiwan has not yet set an allowable level of ractopamine in meat imports. Cho explained on Friday.
"Deputy US Trade Representative Robert Holleyman mentioned on Thursday that we have not been complying with our past beef protocol. We notified the WHO in 2007 that we would set an allowable MRL level of ractopamine in beef and pork imports but we have not yet done so," Cho said. "[Holleyman] mentioned these as two issues that the US Congress will question him on. He said that if he cannot give a satisfactory answer to Congress, it will be very hard to get Congress to sign the BIA."
However, Cho said that future TIFA talks will not be stalled due to meat import issues.