USTR postpones duties in EU hormone dispute

USTR postpones duties in EU hormone dispute Targeted European Union products will get a one-month reprieve from higher U.S. duties as punishment for restricting the entry of U.S. beef with hormones, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative announced Thursday.
   In January, the World Trade Organization authorized the United States to impose additional duties on a new list of EU products because the 20-year EU ban on beef produced with the aid of growth hormones did not meet WTO criteria. The WTO in 1998 granted the United States the right to take retaliatory measures worth up to $117 million per year. A separate list of products was authorized for duties in 1999 and that list is the one that is now being updated.
   The EU amended its beef ban in 2003, but the WTO Appellate Body last October rejected the EU's claim that it now complied with the world trade rules.
   The new duties will go into effect on April 23 instead of March 23 to allow more time for a negotiated settlement that opens the EU market to U.S. beef raised with hormones and compensates for prior economic damage caused by the embargo. The USTR said progress has been made, but that several important issues remain to be resolved.
   The new list also deletes some products that were being assessed duties, and those deletions will go into effect on March 23 out of respect for commercial arrangements made under the prior rule.