Asked by a reporter if the U.S. would seriously consider a WTO case against South Korea over beef Johanns replied, "I don't think anything, any possibility...I wouldn't take anything off the table at the moment. So your question, is it really a real possibility? Yes, I'm confident it is."

And Johanns also said failure to resolve South Korea's continued ban on U.S. beef would make Congressional approval of a potential U.S.-South Korean Free Trade Agreement virtually impossible. "I can assure you, I don't have any doubt about it whatsoever, that if I went up on the Hill today trying to put the votes together, every single senator and House member would be asking me about beef," Johanns said. "And in that atmosphere it just becomes very difficult if not impossible to get the votes together to get a free trade agreement passed."

The American Meat Institute has called on USDA to pull its rules for exporting beef to South Korea as a signal that the U.S. considers the South Korean market closed to U.S. beef. But Johanns indicated such a move isn't necessary.

"I would imagine if you got on the phone today and started calling U.S. exporters who might be interested in exporting beef to Korea," said Johanns, "they would say that there's no chance they are going to at this point."

Source: Brownfield AG News for America