WASHINGTON, August 1, 2013 – Today, United States Trade
Representative (USTR) Michael Froman and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
announced that the European Union (EU) will continue to provide U.S. beef
producers with significant access, at zero duty, to the EU market for
high-quality beef produced from non-hormone-treated cattle. The United States
and the European Union are planning to extend for two years Phase 2 of the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) signed in 2009 in connection with the United States'
long-running dispute with the European Union over its ban on beef from cattle
treated with certain growth-promoting hormones.
In the year since Phase 2 began, U.S. beef shipments under
the quota were an estimated $200 million, up 300 percent from the value of
exports in the year before the MOU entered into force, USDA said. Under the
extension, the EU would maintain until August 2, 2015 its duty-free tariff rate
quota for high-quality beef, established pursuant to the MOU between the United
States of America and the European Commission Regarding the Importation of Beef
from Animals not Treated with Certain Growth Promoting Hormones, at the Phase 2
quantity of 45,000 metric tons per year.
"I am very pleased that American ranchers and meat
processors will be allowed to ship substantial quantities of high-quality U.S.
beef into a market worth millions of dollars to their bottom lines," said
Ambassador Froman. "Before the memorandum of understanding was signed, the
EU's beef market had been largely closed for far too long. The substantial
market access that we have achieved since 2009 shows what we can accomplish
with practical, problem-solving approaches to trade barriers."
"Since 2009, this agreement has greatly expanded
opportunities for U.S. beef producers to export high-quality products to the
European Union," said Vilsack. "By working together with our EU
partners to extend this agreement, we have maintained access to a key market
for beef products, and set the stage for further progress. USTR and USDA will
continue working closely with our trading partners around the world, including
the EU, to further expand trade access for U.S. agricultural products."
#30
For more news, visit www.agri-pulse.com.