After admitting it was a mistake, the United States has lifted the tariff on imported bison meat.
In March, an American customs officer at Sweetgrass, Montana, used an obscure trade ruling to lay a 26.4 percent tariff on all bison meat shipped to the U.S. from Canada.
Officials on both sides of the border admitted it was a mistake made when the North American Free Trade Agreement was revised in 1994.
Bison meat should have been listed under the tariff-free bovine category, not the “other” category under bovine.
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Maurice Moore, president of Canadian Rangeland Beef and Bison, said officials on both sides worked together to get the tariff lifted.
“It made a few people nervous for a week or two.”
He expects it will take four to five weeks to get his money refunded from tariffs paid on meat imported during that time.
The tariff was a wake-up call to the industry to develop domestic markets to lessen the impact of future tariffs, said Moore.
“My philosophy is the best business is a home business. We should be selling into a bison market in Canada.”
