Africa and The Middle East

South Africa has taken a further step toward resolving its ongoing dispute with the U.S. over barriers to meat trade by publishing guidelines laying out how Pretoria will administer a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) giving U.S. chicken exporters additional access to the South African market. But whether the regulation will serve as a starting point toward new market access for U.S. poultry producers is still up in the air.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- South African Trade Minister Rob Davies said Thursday (Dec. 17) his government was slated to publish the following day a legal document that will implement a new tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for U.S. poultry, and that he hopes three remaining sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues can be resolved before the end of the year in order to avoid the U.S. withdrawing some of the trade preferences it grants to South Africa.