The U.S. is delaying its plan to impose additional duties on European Union (EU) products in retaliation for EU unwillingness to import beef produced with growth hormones, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Wednesday.
The additional duties were expected to go into effect on Wednesday, but action will be delayed until May 9 in hopes of reaching an agreement over the issue, Kirk said after a telephone conversation with EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton. “The EU has demonstrated seriousness in their efforts to solve this problem, and two additional weeks should be sufficient to establish whether we can address the remaining issues successfully,” Kirk said .
The EU banned US beef from hormone-fed cattle in 1988 on the grounds that the hormones were not approved in the EU, but a WTO dispute resolution panel found that the EU ban on beef was not supported by science and authorized the US to take retaliatory actions.
