The United States has forfeited the right to call itself a free-trade nation. Its decision to hit lamb imports with both a quota and a tariff was done for one reason only – protection of its home industry. The only good thing that can be said about the US decision was that it was up front. There was no pretence from the US to limit lamb from Australia and New Zealand on spurious health or quarantine grounds.
The US hit imported lamb with a quota set at 1998 levels of 32 million tonnes. The tariff below the quota will be 9 per cent for the first year, 6 per cent in the second and 3 per cent in the third and final year. The tariff is about 1 per cent now. The quota level will rise a trivial 857 tonnes in the second and third years. Imports above the quota will face a 40 per cent tariff the first year, a 32 per cent tariff the second year and a 24 per cent tariff in the third year.
The 40 per cent rate is almost prohibitive. The short lead time, less than two weeks, indicates the US Administration was acting to appease a noisy group of US producers with political clout.
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