The Texas Department of Agriculture says it will turn back certain types of Canadian breeding cattle that show up at the state’s ports along the Mexican border, pending the outcome of talks between U.S. and Mexican officials.
In a press release Friday, Texas ag commissioner Todd Staples said the Mexican government is offering a new trade protocol to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on U.S. cattle imports. The announcement comes three days after Texas said it would block Canadian animals going through its export facilities to Mexico due to “unfair trade practices.”
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Canada and Mexico in late February signed an agreement to allow exports of certain Canadian dairy and beef cattle less than 30 months of age, including breeding stock.
Mexico until then had allowed only beef from Canadian cattle under 30 months of age, having gradually loosened the ban it imposed on Canada’s cattle and beef when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was first found in a Canadian cow in May 2003.
However, Staples’ office noted in a release, Mexico currently only allows the importation of U.S. dairy heifers under the age of 24 months, “despite in-depth international negotiations to broaden this to breeding stock.”
“If USDA allows these cattle to cross the Canadian border into the U.S., they will not move through the Texas Department of Agriculture’s export facilities along the Mexican border,” Staples said Tuesday in announcing the ban, which affects the state-operated facilities at Brownsville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, El Paso and Laredo.
“I have instructed TDA employees overseeing the agency’s livestock export facilities along the Mexican border to not facilitate the trade of any Canadian cattle that would be inconsistent with the protocol for exporting U.S. cattle to Mexico.”
Mexico submitted its new offer Thursday night, Staples said Friday, and “although details of this offer have not yet been shared, the fact an offer has been made is proof of progress.
“I look forward to learning the details of this new Mexican offer and reviewing its consistency with international standards.”
Despite progress toward a deal, Staples’ spokesman Bryan Black said Monday that the block against Canadian cattle will remain in place until an agreement is reached between Mexican officials and USDA.
Until then, shipments of Canadian cattle would be turned away, Black said, since the state facilities don’t have the pen space to hold them.
