US set to ease Canadian beef ban

Washington: The White House was expected to lay out how the United States will begin easing its ban on Canadian beef imports in a briefing with US meat groups yesterday, industry officials said.

The private briefing, led by White House agriculture adviser Chuck Conner, was set to be a heads-up before a public announcement next week, the sources said.

“We anticipate it will be spelled out what the parameters of an agreement among the countries involved to reopen the border between the US and Canada will consist of,” a US meat industry official said. “It’s a heads up for an announcement that will take place next week.”

For weeks, USDA officials have refused to give any timetable for a loosening of the US beef trade ban against Canada, which discovered a case of mad cow disease on May 20. But the Bush administration appears to be headed in that direction now. Industry sources said they expected the US and Canada would implement safeguards against mad cow disease before the US eases its ban. They said the new measures would include increased surveillance and testing.