EU Defers Decision on Imports of U.S. Beef

The European Union delayed a decision on whether to resume imports of U.S. hormone-free beef, dashing hopes of a quick resolution to a transatlantic dispute over the EU’s ban on meat treated with growth hormones. EU veterinarians extended until mid-February the deadline for the United States to provide guarantees that shipments of beef are free of hormone traces but said they had received strong U.S. commitments to improve health checks. This summer the World Trade Organization backed a U.S. complaint that the EU’s ban on hormone-treated beef violated free trade rules and authorized Washington to impose 100% duties on $116 million worth of EU goods in retaliation. In recent weeks, both sides have come closer to resolving the row through an EU offer of compensation to replace the sanctions. Rather than financial, the compensation would be increased EU market access for the U.S. cattle industry. It had been envisaged that the current 11,500-ton annual quota for hormone-free beef would be enlarged in compensation. The new two-month delay in giving these shipments the all-clear also means the compensation question cannot be immediately resolved.