A bipartisan coalition of 14 members of Congress are urging for an investigation into lamb and mutton imports into the U.S. In a late October letter, the lawmakers penned a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, requesting the U.S. International Trade Commission initiate a global safeguard investigation.
The letter follows an earlier request in August by the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF). The group submitted a petition, coined the Protect American Lamb project, asking Congress and the Biden administration to provide relief to sheep producers who are being impacted by the “unrestrained importation of substantially lower-cost foreign lamb and mutton.”
The Congress members urge Tai to consider R-CALF’s request and have the commission conduct an investigation to determine if lamb and mutton is being imported at a rate to be of substantial injury to domestic producers.
“These trends support a prompt and fair investigation by the International Trade Commission of whether the import surge is a substantial cause of serious injury to the United States sheep industry,” the letter read. “A request initiated by your office could help ensure the long-term stability and sustainability of this important domestic industry.”
The letter was signed by Reps. Blake Moore (R-UT-01), Harriet Hageman (R-WY-At large), Mark Amodei (R-NV-02), Yadira Caraveo (D-CO-08), John Curtis (R-UT-03), Mary Miller (R-IL-15), Burgess Owens (R-UT-04), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT-02), Michael Simpson (R-ID-02), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), Steven Horsford (D-NV-04), Russ Fulcher (R-ID-01) and Susie Lee (D-NV-03).
Petition details
In the petition, R-CALF claimed there has been an overwhelming increase in imported lamb and mutton from 1993-2022, which has reduced American sheep operations by more than 60%. The group pointed to Australia as the No. 1 culprit of displacing domestic lamb and mutton production.
“The most obvious reason that Australian lamb and mutton imports have displaced such a large share of domestic lamb and mutton (and, as stated above, the reason the USDA believes is the most important factor) is because Australian imports are delivered into the U.S. market at a significantly lower cost than what domestic lamb can be produced for in the United States,” the petition read.
The petition concludes by urging the Biden administration and Congress to establish tariffs and a tariff rate quota system to ensure competitiveness of the domestic sheep industry. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
