The United States and the European Union (EU) have signed a provisional agreement to end their longstanding dispute over U.S. hormone-treated beef exports, officials said Wednesday. The memorandum of understanding was signed in Geneva and will provide the United States “significant additional access” at zero-percent duty to the EU market for beef produced from American cattle not treated with growth-promoting hormones, officials said. “In contrast to the existing access, which is subject to a 20 percent duty, the new access will be duty-free,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement. Under the agreement, the EU would allow imports of up to 45,000 tons of U.S. beef, and Washington agreed to drop plans to impose new import duties on various EU foods. “The EU remains one o the few markets to ban beef from cattle given growth-promoting hormones—beef that is perfectly safe to eat—but we see this agreement as a pragmatic way forward,” Kirk wrote. The dispute began in 1988 when the EU banned U.S. beef, saying American beef producers used certain growth-promoting hormones that were not authorized in the European bloc. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in 1999 that the EU ban was inconsistent with WTO rules, allowing the United States to impose retaliatory duties on European products. “After 20 years of disputes over this issue, it appears we have found a way forward that creates economic opportunity here at home and benefits consumers in Europe,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
