CongressDaily | by Jerry Hagstrom
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association would consider supporting a European Union offer of compensation in the beef hormone case, NCBA lobbyist Chandler Keys said today. The package would involve increasing the quota for U.S. non-hormone fed beef and reducing or eliminating tariffs on U.S. beef. However, Keys said the compensation would still be an "interim" step in a package that assumes the question of importing hormone-fed beef would be resolved when the Europeans have completed their scientific studies. Keys, just back from a trip to Brussels, said, "We are not signing off on anything until we believe it is going to benefit our industry." After a World Trade Organization panel found the European Union did not have grounds for keeping out the U.S. hormone-fed beef, the United States imposed retaliatory tariffs on a range of EU goods.
Keys said the Cattlemen's delegation went to Europe to assess "the political climate" for beef and agriculture and found the cabinet of the new European Commission President Romano Prodi to be more "serious" about resolving the conflict than their predecessors. The delegation also met with EU parliamentarians from France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. Keys said he was "amazed" at "the unanimity of the European Union" in their willingness to absorb the retaliatory tariffs the United States has placed on EU goods rather than give in on the issue. Tassos Haniotis, the EU agriculture counselor in Washington, told CongressDaily the European Union had offered to significantly increase the quota for hormone-free U.S. beef and "to decrease or even abolish the quota tariff," which is currently 20 percent. But he noted that "the offer for compensation presupposes that the hormone-free cattle program in the United States starts working properly."
Earlier this year, the European Union said it found hormones in supposedly hormone-free U.S. beef, and the Agriculture Department has been reworking the program. The U.S. Trade Representative's office has sent a letter to the European Union, saying it will consider temporary compensation if it would expand U.S. beef imports into Europe.CongressDaily:
