Clinton tried to protect U.S. Wheat Gluten Industry, Bush Didn't

[RamboLiberal]

Interesting tidbit I came across - now Clinton didn't protect from China - but it does show that U.S. Industry as ususal got screwed and so did we! And as far as I'm concerned - F*ck the WTO!

http://canberra.usembassy.gov/hyper/1998/WF980602/epf205.htm

*EPF205 06/02/98
TEXT: USTR STATEMENT ON WHEAT GLUTEN IMPORT QUOTAS
(Individual quotas set for EU, Australia) (990)

Washington -- Beginning on June 1, 1998, the United States imposed a three-year quota on imports of wheat gluten in an effort to stem damage to the U.S. wheat gluten industry, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives announced.

In a statement issued late June 1, USTR said that the action taken by President Clinton will give the U.S. wheat gluten industry time to adjust to a surge in imports of the product. But the president also ordered initiation of international negotiations to address the underlying causes of the import surge.

The quota will primarily affect wheat gluten imports from the European Union and Australia. The quota will not be applied to Canada, Mexico, Israel, beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and the Andean Trade Preference Act, as well as developing countries that have accounted for a minor share of wheat gluten imports.

The overall quota is set at 126,812 million pounds (57,521 million kilograms) with individual quotas set at 62,425 million pounds (28,315.5 million kilograms) for Australia, 54,041 million pounds (24,512.6 million kilograms) for the European Union and 10,346 million pounds (4,692.9 million kilograms) for an "other countries" category. The statement said that USTR is authorized to reallocate any significant unused quota allocations to ensure that the quota is substantially filled.

http://canberra.usembassy.gov/hyper/2001/0604/epf102.htm

Text: USTR Press Release on Ending Wheat Gluten Import Quotas
(Bush administration to spend on U.S. industry instead) (1000)

The Bush administration has allowed temporary import quota protection
for the U.S. wheat gluten industry to expire without renewal after
three years.

In a June 1 press release, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
(USTR) said the administration will spend $40 million over the next
two years to make the industry more competitive.

The industry had requested extension of import protection under
Section 201 of U.S. trade law. U.S. International Trade Commission
members had recommended such extension for two years.

On a challenge from the European Union (EU), however, the World Trade
Organization (WTO) Appellate Body ruled in December that the quotas
violated U.S. obligations in the WTO. Since then the EU has imposed
retaliatory tariffs on imports of corn (maize) gluten from the United
States.

[durtee librul]

1. Oh dear....another bullet for the Faux news

gang that "Clinton did it"

[whistle]

2. Wheat gluten made in China is made from wheat grain imported...

...primarily from the U.S. and Canadian suppliers as they feed most of the world. So, if the wheat grain contains rat poison and other contaminants, then these poisons were introduced somewhere between along the distribution chain. We could very well have added the poisons right at the beginning of the distribution channel in home storage silos knowing the wheat was destined eventually to end up in China, right!

It could be due to our own carelessness, stupidity and greed believing that the Chinese would never return the tainted wheat to us. But they did, and we may very well have also allowed these products into the human food chain as well.

[Ganja Ninja]

3. Makes you wonder why pets are dying in America but you don't

hear of problems in pet food or human food in other countries.

[KoKo]

4. Interesting...thanks for the posts. Confusing in that were we trying to

allow our own wheat gluten producers to modernize to increase production by allowing some imports or was it some kind of deal cut to minimize our production so that some countries could take advantage of importing to us.

Both articles are a little complicated in their "trade deal" jargon...but it's another reason why some of us want trade deals scrutinized and object to the WTO deciding who trades what where.

Food safety guidelines are not standard and importing wheat gluten from all these different countries means we have no controls as to what's in the wheat or the wheat gluten.

Also how does one do a "class actions suit" against a foreign country if they didn't test according to US standards. What if they aren't even required to abide by USFDA standards? :shrug:

So many questions....and yet we wait for further news from our FDA which seems not to be forthcoming yet with the name of the US contractor.