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Mike

Well-known member
Progress in row on US beef and poultry: EU

William Schomberg, Brussels
June 20, 2006

THE European Union is making progress on two long-standing trade disputes with the United States that have hit US exports of beef and poultry to the European Union, European officials said.

Since the 1980s, the EU has banned imports of beef from the US and other countries that produce meat from cattle injected with artificial growth hormones.

But the World Trade Organisation ruled that the ban was illegal, and the US applied about $US117 million ($A158.6 million) of punitive duties a year on European exports, such as Roquefort cheese, mustard, truffles, French hams and soups.

"Yes, beef hormones is one," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said when asked if the issue was one of two trans-Atlantic disputes that he recently hinted were close to being resolved.

Mr Mandelson was talking at a briefing ahead of an EU-US summit tomorrow.

In 2003, the US and the EU failed to reach a negotiated solution to the dispute. Other countries such as Canada, Australia and Mexico have also challenged the ban.

At the same briefing, another EU official said Brussels was ready to reconsider its ban on US poultry treated by low-concentration chlorine washes for sterilisation.

"Scientific opinion is coming round to the view that it (the treatment) may be safe," the official said, adding that consideration of a change was only at an early stage.

The US exported $US7.4 million a year in poultry and offal to the EU between 2002 and 2004, 2 per cent of the bloc's imports, which are dominated by Brazil.

The change in tone from the EU on the beef and poultry restrictions comes as the US is pressing for more access to farm markets in order to unlock the WTO's Doha Round.

Key WTO countries are to meet this month on agriculture and industrial goods, two pillars of the round, which risks being shelved for years if no deal can be found soon.

The EU has said the US must do more to cut farm subsidies.
 

DiamondSCattleCo

Well-known member
Sandhusker said:
The EU says to cut subsidies? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?

No kiddin. I dunno what the EU's beef subsidies are, but their grain subsidies are massive with some crops receiving over $4.00 Cdn/bushel (as of 2004 numbers anyway).

Rod
 

Econ101

Well-known member
All the big producing countries play this game. The EU dumps sugar on the world market too.

The "fair trade" rules are not being enforced. Everyone is doing what is in their best interest and there are not many that stand on priciple when they have something to lose. The biggest loser in a game like this is everyone.

To talk about globalization in this context is just allowing companies to produce at the lowest cost country and then screw their domestic producers. This makes the world price the lowest common denominator and this is usually a "dump" price. Unfortunately, we also go to the lowest common denominator when it comes to child labor, labor in general, governments, freedoms, etc.
 

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