New Retaliation List Proposed

May 30, 2000

Chicken and cheese are on the list of products for retaliation against the European Union for its ban on imports of beef from hormone-treated animals. The final list is to be issued by June 19.

It’s part of the "carousel" approach to retaliation under which products imported with high duties are rotated periodically. The U.S. trade representative’s office issued a new list of proposed goods for public comment. Roquefort cheese, Danish ham, Belgian chocolates and pecorino cheese, made from sheep milk, are included.

The lists apply to the bananas case and the beef hormone case against the EU. USTR said it is "particularly interested in potential impacts on U.S. small or medium sized businesses so it can seek to avoid adversely affecting them" with the retaliatory list.

A World Trade Organization panel found that the EC banana regime violated WTO rules, and an appellate body upheld that decision Sept. 9, 1997. Last year, the United States imposed 100% ad valorem duties on a list of EU products with an annual trade value of $191.4 million.

The United States and Canada successfully challenged the EU ban on imports of meat from animals to which any of six hormones for growth promotion purposes had been administered. The WTO panel found that the ban was inconsistent with the EU’s trade obligations and was not based on science, a risk assessment or relevant international standards. The United States has imposed 100% ad valorem duties on EU products with an annual trade value of $117 million.

For the entire USTR document on the procedures to modify the lists, go to the Internet at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2000/05/00-41.html http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2000/05/00-41.html