[Intl-tobacco] TFK Statement on US Trade Pressure in Korea

[Robert Weissman]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE=09CONTACTS:=09Joel Spivak/Michael Berman
June 14, 2001=09=09=09=09=09=09202-296-5469

Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President
CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS

Bush Administration Presses South Korea to Drop Cigarette Tariff,
Putting Tobacco Industry=92s Interests Ahead of Public Health

WASHINGTON (June 14, 2001) =96 In yet another outrageous example of putting
the tobacco industry=92s interests ahead of the public health, the Bush
Administration has successfully pressured the South Korean government to
scale back plans to impose a 40 percent tariff on imported cigarettes.
The South Korean government announced Thursday that it is abandoning plans
to impose the 40 percent tariff on July 1 and instead will phase it in
over four years.

The Administration=92s actions raise the alarming prospect that it may be
reinstating the U.S. government=92s harmful policy during the 1980s of usin=
g
the threat of trade sanctions to force foreign governments to repeal or
weaken policies to curtail tobacco consumption and marketing within their
borders.  The world=92s most powerful nation should not be using its
diplomatic and economic might to promote the interests of the tobacco
industry and add to the tremendous toll in disease and death that tobacco
use takes around the world.

The 1980s policy succeeded in undermining tobacco control efforts in
countries such as South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, contributing to
an increase in tobacco consumption.  In the final days of his Presidency,
President Clinton issued an executive order stating, =93In the
implementation of international trade policy, executive departments and
agencies shall not promote the sale or export of tobacco or tobacco
products, or seek the reduction or removal of foreign government
restrictions on the marketing and advertising of such products.=94 Reversin=
g
this policy is one of the tobacco industry=92s top priorities.  The South
Korea situation is the first indication that the industry may be getting
its way.

We urge the Bush Administration to support and strengthen the current
policy, rather than reversing it.  At the very least, the Administration
should place a moratorium on trade-related actions concerning tobacco and
conduct a public health assessment of the impact of its policies before
proceeding.  Such an assessment would bring to light the substantial
evidence that reducing tariffs on cigarettes is bad public health policy
because it stimulates price competition, reduces prices and boosts
consumption, especially among children.

The Administration=92s actions in South Korea are but the latest indication
that its tobacco policies will benefit the tobacco industry.  In recent
months, the Administration has failed to ensure adequate funding to
continue the federal government=92s lawsuit against the tobacco industry,
sought to weaken the proposed international tobacco treaty (the Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control) and appointed key regulators at the Federal
Trade Commission who have worked for the tobacco industry.  These are all
objectives sought by the tobacco industry when it made $8.3 million in
political contributions during the last election, much of it to
Republicans.

U.S. leadership is sorely needed in combating the global tobacco epidemic,
which already kills four million people each year, with that number
projected to increase to ten million by 2030.  South Korea, with the
world=92s highest adult smoking rates and one of the highest youth smoking
rates, is a prime example of how tobacco use is harming health around the
globe.  The U.S. should be a leader in protecting the public health, not
in protecting the tobacco industry=92s interests.