USTR Chief Lauds Continued Duty Free, High-Quality Beef Export to EU
The head of the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Michael Froman, announced on Aug. 1 support for a European Union (EU) decision to maintain duty exempt status for non-hormone-treated American beef exports. Froman issued the statement in conjunction with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The EU decision extends a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in 2009 that addressed a long-standing American beef export dispute. According to the statement, U.S. beef exports to the EU have skyrocketed in the wake of the 2009 MOU endorsement.
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“I am very pleased that American ranchers and meat processors will be allowed to ship substantial quantities of high-quality U.S. beef into a market worth millions of dollars to their bottom lines,” said Ambassador Froman. “Before the memorandum of understanding was signed, the EU’s beef market had been largely closed for far too long. The substantial market access that we have achieved since 2009 shows what we can accomplish with practical, problem-solving approaches to trade barriers.”