Ernst leads bipartisan call for efforts to end U.S. turkey export discrimination

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) led a bipartisan call on Monday for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take action to end discrimination against U.S. turkey exports resulting from a last year’s bird flu outbreak.

Last year’s Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak led to two U.S. trading partners imposing unscientific requirements on American turkey exports, Ernst wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“As a result of last year’s outbreak, certain countries are requiring that all poultry exported from the U.S. be hatched and raised in this country,” Ernst said. “The most significant markets in question are South Africa and the Republic of Korea. As currently included in import requirements for both countries, the phrase ‘must be hatched and raised in the United States’ is causing significant disruption to trade even though there is no scientific evidence for its existence and sets a negative precedent for future trade negotiations with other nations.”

South Africa and the Republic of Korea have not extended their import requirement to all countries impacted by the HPAI outbreak, the letter states, which has led to inconsistent application.

“The impact of the 2015/2016 HPAI outbreak has left long-lasting, undesirable consequences for the poultry industry, and the ‘hatched and raised’ requirement is one that needs attention,” the letter states. “This new restriction appears to represent a non-scientific trade barrier that limits the turkey industry’s ability to export abroad. Right now, just two important markets are affected, but we are concerned that this language could be requested by additional countries in the future.”

U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) were among the senators who signed the bipartisan letter.