WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commerce Department has given itself another 20 days to determine whether to pursue investigations into charges of unfairly priced cattle imports from Canada and Mexico.
A grass roots group of ranchers calling themselves the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) filed petitions asking for the investigations on Oct. 1, and normally Commerce would take only 20 days to make a decision.
But the Commerce Department has given itself double that time in this case because of the challenging task of determining how widespread support is for an investigation among the United States' 1 million cattle producers.
Terence Stewart, outside counsel for R-CALF, said that group was disappointed that the executive board of the largest U.S.cattlemen's group, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, voted this week not to support the petitions.
“But I think R-CALF is confident that the cases will go forward anyway,” Stewart said.
The NCBA, whose membership includes some 39,000 ranchers, decided not to support the petitions because of the expense involved and the limited chance of success.
Instead, the group favored bilateral negotiations to address the concerns raised by R-CALF and also noted that a sharp drop in the value of the Canadian dollar was probably an important factor in rising cattle imports from Canada.
Although the Commerce Department could take a poll to determine if at least 25 percent of the U.S. cattle industry supports an investigation, Stewart said it was “unclear” just how the agency would make its decision.
“R-CALF will continue to work hard” to demonstrate industry support for the petition, he said, noting that a number of state organizations have already signed on board.
In addition to determining if there is industry support for the investigations, the Commerce Department must also decide on the merits of the petitions.
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