Even though the EU-U.S. trade agreement talks are not moving apace, largely because of the EU reluctance to include agriculture versus U.S. insistence that it must be on the table, there does seem to be movement on beef exports. The parties have reached an “agreement in principle” that will allow U.S. beef to account for 35,000 MT of the EU’s annual 45,000 MT quota for hormone-free beef imports. This deal would be phased in over five years, and it addresses a 20-year-old situation with the Hilton quota, more commonly referred to as the “high quality beef” (HQB) quota. The EU had blocked beef imports from the U.S due to its practice of treating cattle with hormones. The U.S. then won a WTO challenge to that bar...

TAGS – Europe, North America, South America