990511 Senators Urge Retaliation In EU Beef Spat

Washington - A bipartisan group of 36 senators have urged the Clinton administration to levy punitive duties on at least $500 million of European Union goods in a dispute over beef trade.

In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, the senators also requested that much of the retaliatory duties fall on EU pork shipments to the United States, which total several hundred million dollars per year.

“A strong response to the EU's treatment of U.S. agricultural products is long overdue,” the 24 Republicans and 12 Democrats said. “If U.S. meat is not welcome in the EU, then EU meat should not be accepted in the United States.”

The World Trade Organization has twice ruled against the EU's 10-year-old ban on imports of beef from cattle raised with artificial growth hormones. After the second ruling, the WTO gave the EU 15 months, or until May 13, to comply.

The United States has said it would retaliate if the EU does not open its market by the May 13 deadline. Last month, it published a preliminary list of more than $900 million worth of EU food products and other goods that could be hit with 100 percent duties if the ban isn't lifted.

EU officials have already indicated that they will not meet the May 13 deadline. Instead of face retaliation, they would prefer to compensate the United States by providing increased trade concessions for other products.

In their letter, the senators made clear they prefer “a high level of retaliation” if the EU does not change its policy. “Our patience is gone. The EU must feel the ban of noncompliance,” the senators, led by Missouri Republican John Ashcroft, said.

In addition to seeking at least $500 million of punitive duties, the senators urged the retaliation list be periodically updated so each EU member state would share in the pain.

That's consistent with the “carousel” approach advocated by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Meat Institute and the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Under that plan, punitive duties would fall on a different set of EU countries every six months.

U.S. cattle producers expect the Clinton administration to announce its final retaliation list in the first part of May.

Other items on the preliminary list included small-engine motorcycles, hair clippers, oats, beef, poultry, mustard, chocolate, tomatoes and tomato powder and paste, fruit juices, shallots, Roquefort cheese and other farm products.

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