Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 9/6/18


The European Commission recommended this week that the EU open negotiations with the United States on expanding access for U.S. beef to that market.

The gesture came after President Trump said the EU’s offer to eliminate tariffs on cars would not prevent a trade war. The president has been pushing for the EU to open up its market for agricultural products.

The European Commission is working to get approval from member countries “to allocate to the United States a part of the existing quota” for beef not treated with hormones.

The current quota, established in 2009, gave the U.S. an annual allocation of nearly 45,000 tons of hormone-free beef with no duties. However, the EU provided the same quota to other major beef-exporting WTO countries like Australia and Uruguay, and the U.S. slice has since dwindled. A new agreement could allot as much as 35,000 tons of the quota for U.S. beef producers, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an EU diplomat familiar with the talks.

These are busy times for the Trump administration, which also has resumed negotiationswith Canada to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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