In Panama, the authorities ordered a temporary special agricultural safeguard measure to be applied to imports of beef other than prime and choice beef originating in the United States.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI) indicated that this special safeguard, which will be in effect until December 2019, is because imports of this product reached last October, the activation level of the measure agreed in the SPC between Panama and the United States.

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The special safeguard, which consists of an additional import duty between 3.75% and 4.50% for imports of beef originating in the U.S., which are not qualified by the USDA as prime grade or choice meat and should not affect either the price or the availability of the product to the consumer, informed the MICI.

“The MICI, in the exercise of vigilance for the correct application of the mechanisms for the defense of national production included in the trade agreements signed by Panama, maintains a permanent monitoring of imports subject to the special agricultural safeguard mechanism that is part of the Trade Promotion Treaty with the United States, as is the case of beef,” adds the statement.