April 23, 2009
US and EU to continue negotiations on beef dispute
The US and the EU agreed on Wednesday (Apr 22) to continue talks to resolve its longstanding beef dispute and delay retaliatory US duties on EU products by at least two weeks until May 8, EU sources said.
The talks will begin on Monday (Apr 27) in Geneva, a EU source said.
The US set a deadline of April 23 after the EU offered to give US beef producers a larger import quota for non-hormone-treated beef in exchange for the US to drop rotating duties worth about US$116.8 million on a new set of EU products.
The deal under discussion could expand the EU quota for high quality beef to 50,000 tonnes in three separate stages in exchange for the US removing the tariffs, officials said.
