EU-U.S. beef soap opera contiinues

The World Trade Organization ruled yesterday that the European Union (EU) had failed to justify its ban on imports of hormone-treated beef from the U.S. and Canada. A companion ruling also said the U.S. and Canada had violated international trade rules by offsetting the EU ban of it's beef with sanctions on EU exports in response.

The 12-year-old dispute is strictly a protectionist move by the EU to keep its farmers who raise cattle from facing competition from U.S. beef. Both the U.S. and Canada have far stricter rules governing hormones in beef production than the EU itself has. Random tests of EU produced beef have turned up heavy amounts of stilbesterol, a hormone that is illegal in any amount in the U.S.

Just like the more numerous BSE cases are in Europe, Japan and South Korea, with only two in the U.S., hormones in beef are far less controlled and more common in the EU, which turns down U.S. beef for using hormones. Hypocrisy hardly begins to describe the EU position.

Anyone who has travelled to Europe and attempted to eat the beef there, knows how desperately they need to import clean, safe, wholesome, delicious U.S. beef. Chicken and pork are far superior in Europe to the available local beef, and you learn quickly on a trip there, chicken, fish and pork are what you order.

When the U.S. exported beef to Europe, it was mostly organ meats (livers, hearts, tongues and kidneys) that we were glad to get rid of, but are thought of as delicacies on the continent. The better cuts of beef were imported only in sufficient quantity to serve American tourists in major hotels.

The U.S. did very well opening markets for beef in Asia, as the EU ban took effect, much more than offsetting losses in Europe. Until BSE, which originated in Europe, intervened, U.S. beef exports overall were way up over the years when we sent beef to the EU.

World Trade Organization rullings in favor of the United States are nice, but have no power of enforcement. That ruling and a dollar bill will get you a cup of coffee. You can count on the fact that Europe will find other ways to keep U.S. beef out and protect their farmers.