ITC Won't Impose Duties on Canadian Cattle

November 10, 1999

The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that the U.S. cattle industry is not materially injured by imports of live cattle from Canada. The decision is a victory for Canada and means the Department of Commerce will not impose antidumping duties on the imports.

U.S. cattlemen are "neither materially injured nor threatened with material injury by reason of imports of live cattle from Canada that the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined are sold in the United States at leas than fair value," ITC determined.

REUTERS quoted Ben Thorlakson, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association saying the decision exonerates Canadian producers who were criticized by U.S. producers who face income problems this year.

"Canadians are free and fair traders," he said, adding the case cost producers C$1-2 million per week in duties since July when a U.S. provisional duty was imposed.

Lyle Vanclief, Canada's agriculture minister, said the ITC reached the only conclusion possible. "This is great news for Canadian cattle producers, because it both removes the duty and means that the anti-dumping duties collected will be returned," he said.

The ITC action ends a 13-month effort by the Ranchers-Cattlemen Legal Acton foundation (R-CALF), a group of U.S. cattle producers. "R-CALF is very disappointed," James Cannon, an R-CALF attorney, told REUTERS. "They felt that they showed that...even a small additional supply can have a big impact."