ITC Rules Canadian
Cattle Cause No Harm

WASHINGTON —(AP)— A federal commission ruled last week that imports of Canadian cattle are not hurting American ranchers and rejected an anti-dumping duty proposed by the Commerce Department.

The department had found that Canadian cattle were being sold in the United States below the cost of production, and U.S. importers started paying into an escrow account to cover a potential duty of 5.63 percent, or about $50 to $60 per animal.

But the tariff could not take effect without a determination by the U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent panel, that the American producers were actually being hurt by the below-cost sales.

In a 5-1 vote Tuesday, the commission said U.S. producers were ``neither materially injured nor threatened with material injury'' by the Canadian imports.

Although Canadian beef accounts for less than four percent of American consumption, U.S. ranchers had several influential lawmakers pushing their case, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

The Ranchers-Cattlemen Legal Action Fund, a producer group based in Montana, had initially filed dumping cases against both Canada and Mexico. The commission dismissed the case against Mexico in January but allowed the case against Canada to go forward.

``We're just going to keep working on this and see what we can do,'' said John Lockie, chief executive officer of the producers' group. The organization, which was formed specifically to bring the trade case, raised donations from ranchers and spent $1.7 million in legal fees.

The commission's decision was praised by the meatpacking industry. ``We should not be using our international trade laws to insulate a segment of the domestic industry ... to the detriment of the consumer,'' said J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute.

He said the commission's decision would undercut an effort by cattle producers and their allies in Congress to require meat to be labeled with the country of origin. U.S. producers think the labels would discourage consumers from buying Canadian beef.

U.S. packers processed 1.6 billion pounds of Canadian beef worth $894 million last year.