Zoellick Urged to Ensure U.S. Trade with Larger EU

August 9, 2002

Eleven senators and three members of the House of Representatives have urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to ensure that U.S. trade rights, especially regarding beef and bananas, are fully protected as the European Union modifies its import policies to accommodate an expansion from 15 to as many as 25 member countries.

The letters note that as additional East European countries enter the EU, they will be expected to adopt the EU's ban on imports of meats from animals treated with growth-promoting hormones -- a policy maintained by the EU even though it has been declared illegal by the WTO.

For example, Romania -- one of the EU candidate countries -- recently announced that it has adopted a ban on imports of meats from animals treated with growth hormones. The expected expansion of the ban will increase the U.S. trade loss and justify a higher level of U.S. retaliation against imports of EU origin, U.S. meat industry officials say. The U.S. retaliated against the current EU-15 in July 1999 by imposing 100% duties on $116.8 million worth of EU imports. Those duties remain in effect.

The letters also remind the Bush administration of the mandatory "carousel retaliation" provision in Section 407 of the Trade and Development Act of 200. This legislation requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to rotate the retaliation list every six months in cases where a foreign nation fails to comply with a WTO ruling. Although USTR acknowledged in a May 26, 2000, press release that modifications to the beef retaliation list are mandated by that law, action has not yet been taken.