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US can impose tariff on beef forever
5 Mar 2004
The fine print of the free trade agreement reveals that the US can place tariffs on Australian beef and horticultural exports for an indefinite period. Despite assurances that barriers to Australian beef exports would be abolished completely by 2025, the final FTA states that the US could impose tariffs if the US price falls to 6.5 per cent below average.
For 33 horticultural products, including asparagus, tomatoes, grape juice, orange juice, peaches, pears and garlic, there are price "safeguards". If US prices drop by more than 10 per cent, the US can apply tariffs of up to 100 per cent. Both the Trade Minister and Horticulture Australia said the special tariffs only apply to a very small number of products and won't have any real impacts on exports.
The Age, 5/3/04.
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