April 20, 2009
US and EU beef deal seen unlikely
The US and the EU are unlikely to resolve a 20-year old beef dispute by an April 23 deadline, a US industry official said.
If the dispute is left unresolved, the US is most likely to begin the rotation of retaliatory duties worth US$116.8 million to a new set of EU products, the official said.
No agreements have been reached at this point and all indications are that the retaliatory duties will go into place on April 23, said John Reddington, vice president for international trade at the American Meat Institute.
The EU in late 1980s had banned beef from cattle raised with artificial growth hormones, a common industry practice in the US and Canada. The US eventually brought the case to the WTO, which ruled in its favour and allowed the US to impose retaliatory duties on US$116.8 million of EU products until the bloc agreed to lift the ban.
The duties may have affected EU exports negatively, but US cattle producers said they did not benefit from its WTO victory.
The announced rotation in January was meant to get the EU back to the negotiation table.
In March, it was reported that a deal could be possible, with the EU keeping its hormone ban but would give the US a larger quota for beef raised without the use of hormones.
