On Monday 3 September, the European Commission announced that it would ask the Council of the European Union for a mandate to renegotiate the 2009 memorandum of understanding between the EU and USA, which provided an interim solution to their WTO dispute on the European ban on importing hormone-injected beef.
The memorandum had opened an import tariff quota of 45,000 tonnes of hormone-free beef for the USA and other supplier countries such as Australia, Uruguay, Argentina and Canada (see EUROPE 11993).
The initiative could be to ease the trade tension between the two partners. The European Commission has committed to respecting the joint statement of 25 July from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and US President Donald Trump, which aims to open a new phase in trade relations between the EU and US (see EUROPE 12071).
According to European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, the Commission is delivering on an engagement taken earlier this year to try to address some concerns raised by the US, as the country says its cattle breeders do not receive a fair share of the European beef market.
A memorandum of understanding (revised in 2014) authorises the US to export 45,000 tonnes of non-hormone produced beef per year, but the same quota is provided for other exporting countries like Australia and Uruguay – which reduces the market share of US breeders. The Commission suggests allocating the US a share of the quota which is also accessible to other exporting countries, while respecting WTO rules.
Hogan says that the existing beef quota will remain at exactly the same level and the same quota will continue only to cover products in line with European health safety standards for food and thus for non-hormone treated beef.
"This is not about negotiating additional quotas as this quota has existed for years. The discussions will be on how it works. But the quantity and quality remain unchanged", a Commission spokesperson confirmed on Monday. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)