Utah Rep. Blake Moore has joined congressional colleagues in sending a Nov. 14 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai urging that the International Trade Commission launch a “safeguard investigation’ into the impact of foreign sheep imports on the U.S. domestic market.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) wants a federal investigation of foreign sheep imports – and he’s not alone.
Congressmen and women representing eight mostly western states joined Moore in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Kathryn Tai urging the International Trade Commission to launch a safeguard investigation into whether foreign sheep and mutton imports are presenting “… serious injury to the domestic sheep industry.”
“Utah’s lamb and sheep industry has long provided great jobs for Utahns and is foundational to our agricultural output,” Moore said on Nov. 14.
“Challenges from the (COVID-19) pandemic, coupled with unfair advantages held by foreign markets – include the use of chemicals banned in the U.S. – has put our domestic industry in a difficult position.
“Free trade only works when all sides play by the same rules,” he added.
Under the Trade Act of 1974, a safeguard investigation would allow the U.S. to slow down lamb imports by increasing tariffs or capping the number of imports for a specific period.
That investigation wouldn’t provide a permanent solution, Moore acknowledged. But it could give American sheep herders valuable time to get back on their feet and reclaim at least 50 percent of the total market in the United States.
The declining domestic sheep industry isn’t exactly a new problem, according to Kevin Jensen, the chairman of the Emery County Commission.
In 1884, there were more than 50 million sheep being herded in the U.S. Now that number has decreased to 5 million, a decline that herders attribute to foreign competition and development of what was formerly pasture land.
In the past four decades, Jensen explained, the U.S. sheep inventory has declined by 62 percent. With only 5 million head of sheep produced annually, the domestic industry simply isn’t competitive in the global export marketplace.
Since 2013, sheep meat consumption in the U.S. actually increased by 62 percent because imports from Australia and New Zealand surged by 134 percent.
With those imports now accounting for 74 percent of the domestic market, Jensen said that the American sheep industry is the first U.S. livestock sector to be predominantly outsourced.
“What happens when (another) COVID hits?” Moore emphasized. “What happens when there is conflict in the world and we can’t control our own supply chain and our own food source?”
Moore and his congressional colleagues are also hoping that the proposed safeguard investigation would lead to federal policy changes.
For example, the use of the pesticide Sodium Flourocetate is prohibited in the United States, despite the fact that it deters natural predators from attacking sheep. But sheep herders in Australia and New Zealand use it.
In August of this year, American sheep producers called for a safeguard investigation of foreign imports without success. Moore is hoping that the letter from Congress will convince Ambassador Tai to take action through the International Trade Commission.
“It is critical that we look into how the foreign lamb and mutton market has posed major disadvantages to our ranchers,” he added.
The entire Utah congressional delegation, included Representatives Burgess Owens and John Curtis, signed onto Moore’s letter of Nov. 14.
Other signatories of the letter to Tai included Representatives Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Mark Amodei (R-NV), Mary Miller (R-IL), Matthew Rosendale (R-MN), Dina Titus (D-NV), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Yadra Caraveo (D-CO), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Russ Fulcher (R-ID) and Susie Lee (D-NV).