Senator Threatens Hyundai Cars Over Beef Rejections
The dispute between the US and Korea over the Korean rejection of US beef is beginning to heat up:
Korean and U.S. officials held two days of talks until Thursday over how to deal with bone fragments found in shipments of American beef imports. They ended without progress. U.S. beef imports to Korea resumed in October last year, but the first, second and third batches of beef, weighing 22.3 tons in total have either been returned to the U.S. or disposed of because 11 bone fragments, each the size of a fingernail, were found in the shipments. Korea is stressing an agreement with Washington that only beef and no bones can be imported to minimize the threat of mad cow disease. The U.S. is saying this policy is unrealistic and translates into a virtual ban on American beef imports.
The shipments contained bone fragments measuring 0.3×0.6 cm and only 1 mm in width, which are too small to be detected by x-ray. It is virtually impossible to get rid of such small bone fragments during the processing of beef. Since last July, Japan has allowed bone of this sort of size to be included in beef imports from the U.S.
It is very important to protect the Korean public from the threat of BSE. But most experts say it is going too far to halt the import of tons of beef due to a few tiny fragments of bone. Moreover, some quarters here are fanning anti-American sentiment by playing up fears that importing U.S. beef is tantamount to spreading mad cow disease.
It is clear that the Korean government is protecting their beef market from US beef. They will continue to find any excuse they can to ban US beef. That is why I like this idea:
That is why one U.S. senator is saying that all of America’s 700,000 imports of Hyundai cars should be thoroughly inspected and all of them sent back if a single defective part is found in even one of them. U.S. free trade negotiators have said there will be no deal unless the beef issue is resolved.
If Congress actually did something useful like pass legislation authorizing the return of Korean vehicles due to one defective part, US beef would be on sale in Korea by next week. However, just like with the timing of the delay of the Camp Humphreys relocation, the Koreans are betting that the US Congress is too preoccupied with finding ways to lose the war in Iraq without being blamed, to give scant notice to this trade battle over US beef. They are probably right.Â
I'm with the Senator … stop the cars at the port and have a look see … anything wrong, even the littlest tiny itty bitty thing, and the whole works goes back … they will wise up REAL fast !!
I can understand why the senator's pissed, but aren't the Hyundai cars sold in America manufactured in a factory in Alabama employing American workers?
On manufacturing, I think it gets complicated. I think the deals often specifiy that x% of parts are made here and the body there and this and that and so on with the actual car made in different nations per trade agreements and assembled in the US.
Anyway, if this had been China, the issue would have been over already.
The US should look at the Great Garlic War of the early 2000s. China did not use a pretext. As soon as it heard the Korean government backing out of a deal due to media and public pressure once the details leaked to the press, China immediately slapped heavy tarrifs on the industries Korea was making much money in – especially chemical related industrial products and telecommunication. As soon as China did that, the Korean press told everybody to shut up, and the public basically listed, and the deal was not "renegociated" as Korea had been demanding before.
The US should slap heavy duities on Korean steel and shipping and cellphones and anything else that is primarily a one-way flow of money —- on the industries where South Korea has a competitive advantage in the American market.
South Korea could choose to take the US to the trade boards as they have with anti-dumping moves the US has made, and they might win their case.
But, by that time, they would have lost a lot of money and been sent a message.
China has no trouble at all in sending SK messages.
And SK has no problem listening to them.
Don't forget the US applied a long and relatively unjustified ban against Canadian beef… what goes around comes around.
Just for information's sake…..how long did the ban on Canadian beef last? I have very vague memories of the number of mad cow cases in Canada and the ban and very very vaguely about how long the ban lasted. Was it close to the years of Korea's ban and the number of cows with the disease in Canada as few as the ones in the US?
Here is a brief look:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2007/2007-01-0…
@Mingi,
There is a Hyundai factory in Alabama, but according to this publicity blurb at Hyundai's NA website (http://www.hmmausa.com/releases_detail.aspx?id=47 ), the plant is capable of manufacturing up to 300,000 vehicles a year, about 75% of the 400,211 Hyundais sold in the US. My 2005 Elantra was made in Korea.
Agree with USinKorea that cellphones would be a better target. US manufacturing industries that import Korean steel would be hurt, but targeting cellphones would not impact US businesses too much since most retailers stock products from a variety of vendors. Samsung cellphones are popular, and hitting a premier product by Korea's most globalized chaebol would be highly effective in getting Korea to back off its war on imported US beef.
I don't think the ban has been entirely lifted yet, although I think that most of the toughest standards were removed a couple of years ago. My understanding has been that the USDA wants to lift the ban entirely, but political and lobby groups have delayed the move. I'm not sure its entirely comparable to Korea (which also continues to ban CDN beef), but it still sullies the US image as a fair trader.