U.S. DELEGATION HOPES FOR VEG OILS TAX DEFEAT

  American soybean producers and processors
  are hoping the proposed EC tax on vegetable oils and fats will
  not be imposed, but say the U.S. Is prepared to retaliate if it
  is introduced.
      Wayne Bennett, the American Soybean Association's first
  vice president, told a news conference the U.S. Administration
  would not hesitate to retaliate, but both producers and
  processors were trying to solve the issue through negotiation.
      U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Richard Lyng said in a letter
  to EC officials that U.S. Retaliatory measures would cover more
  than agricultural products if the tax was imposed, Bennett
  said.
      The ASA and National Soybean Processors Association (NSPA)
  delegations will meet top West German government officials
  today and tomorrow to lobby for support.
      Bennett said West Germany, Britain, the Netherlands,
  Denmark and Portugal oppose the tax, but Italy and Belgium seem
  to have taken a hardline view on the issue.
      "Europeans in favour of the tax say it would be to their
  advantage economically, but that is not correct because we
  would hit back," NSPA chairman Jack Reed said.
      This step would be very expensive for all and no one would
  emerge as a winner if the tax were introduced, he said.
      Reed pointed out the U.S. Administration and the soybean
  industry view the EC proposal as violating the General
  Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
      The proposed tax also violates the zero duty bindings
  agreed between the EC and U.S. In 1962, he said.
      Under the zero duty bindings pact U.S. Soybeans and
  products can be exported to the Community duty-free.
  

