U.S. SOY PRODUCERS THINK EC OILS TAX UNLIKELY
American soybean producers are
confident the proposed European Community (EC) tax on vegetable
oils and fats will be rejected but are leaving nothing to
chance, American Soybean Association (ASA) president-elect
Wayne Bennett said.
    Bennett, who is leading one of three soybean producer
delegations on a lobbying tour of EC capitals, was speaking at
a lunch.
    After meetings at the Economics and Foreign ministries this
morning, he said the Dutch Government had indicated it would
vote against the proposal, as had a number of other countries.
    "Our information suggests we will have the required number
of votes in Brussels to prevent the tax proposal going forward,"
he said.
    "The proposal has been talked of in Brussels for the past 20
years, and dropped every time. What we want now is to kill it
once and for all," Bennett added.
    Backing up the soybean producers' active lobbying, the U.S.
Government has also indicated it will be prepared to retaliate
with penal import taxes if the proposal does get through, he
said.
    The U.S. Government also feels it has a good case to fight
the proposed tax in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
    U.S. Exports of soybeans and products to the EC account for
one-fifth of annual production, and are worth about 2.5 billion
dlrs a year, Bennett said.
    The proposed tax on oils and fats would hit U.S. Producers
badly while at the same time virtually doubling the price of
soyoil in the EC, which would suffer far worse than other
higher-priced oils because of the nature of the proposed tax,
he added.
    The revenue to the EC from the tax would simply be used to
finance the EC's own oilseed subsidy machine, he said.
    "We in the ASA are dedicated free-traders. We helped defeat
the Wine Equity Act two years ago, but we will not stand by and
watch our own farmers suffer from such protectionist EC
measures," Bennett said.
    "The mood in the U.S. Is turning increasingly protectionist,
and the EC's actions are fueling the chances of a trade war,"
he added.
 Reuter
