050110 USDA Nominee Vows to Press Japan to Lift Beef Ban

Washington, DC - U.S. Agriculture Secretary nominee Mike Johanns pledged this week to press Japan to resume imports of U.S. beef, describing the issue as his "top priority" and underscoring his intention to be a tough negotiator when it comes to opening foreign markets for U.S. farm products.

"If there is one paramount reason why I'm so very anxious to get confirmed, it's to go to work on that issue as a top priority," Johanns, the governor of Nebraska, told a Senate confirmation hearing during which many senators sharply criticized Japan for allegedly trying to slow down talks and prolong its ban, while they stressed the need to press Tokyo even at the presidential level.

The Senate agriculture committee approved the nomination of Johanns, virtually making it certain that the full Senate will confirm him.

Japan, which had been the largest buyer of U.S. beef, and many other nations imposed the ban after a cow in the state of Washington was confirmed in December 2003 as having mad cow disease. It was the first case of the brain-wasting illness in the country.

Noting that Japanese officials are probably watching the hearing, Johanns said, "I hope they just are aware of the fact that it is my intention to make sure that there's absolutely no slowdown, no letup." "This is going to have my immediate attention from the very moment that I become secretary of agriculture," said Johanns, born on a dairy farm in Iowa and well-versed in agriculture issues as the governor of Nebraska, the largest beef-processing state and the fourth-largest exporter of farm products in the country.

"It's now time to get down to the agreement," Johanns said, noting the United States has already made enough efforts to address scientific and technical matters. "I'm going to do everything I can to reopen trade." The United States and Japan reached a compromise deal in October to resume imports of American beef by next spring at the earliest from animals with birth records showing they are aged up to 20 months. But they have yet to resolve the contentious issue of how to verify the age of cattle.

Many committee members said the U.S. industry is suffering considerably from the ban imposed by Japan and many other countries.

They also questioned why the United States is set to lift its ban on Canadian beef without being able to export to those other countries.

Canada confirmed the discovery of a second case of the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, on Sunday after Washington announced its plan to lift the ban.

While also vowing to address the Canada issue, Johanns underlined his background as the governor of the major farm-exporting state in pledging his drive to promote trade he described as "hugely important." "I just want to emphasize that I'm going to put a tremendous amount of emphasis on trade issues and making sure that trade is fair and that it's open to the products that our farmers and ranchers produce in this country," he said.

As the governor of Nebraska, Johanns has led five delegations of the state government, business and agriculture leaders on trade missions to Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil and Chile.

President George W. Bush nominated Johanns as agriculture secretary to replace Ann Veneman, along with many others in his major Cabinet reshuffle for his second term.

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