991069 EU Says U.S. May Be Open to Compensation Over BeefOctober 26, 1999Brussels - The United States may be ready to explore the option of compensation in its row with the European Union over hormone-treated beef, which has led to $117 million of sanctions on EU goods, EU officials said. Compensation would be in the form of increased market access for U.S. beef producers selling hormone-free meat into EU markets, they added. The United States imposed $116.8 million of punitive sanctions in June on European pork, mustard, foie gras and other food exports in retaliation for the EU's refusal to lift a decade-old embargo on U.S. hormone-treated beef. It was backed by the Geneva-based World Trade Organization. The EU argues the use of growth-promoting hormones in cattle may cause cancer and that its consumers, increasingly worried about food safety, do not want hormone-treated beef from the United States or anywhere else. The United States counters that the EU has no scientific evidence to suggest its beef is a risk to human health and has accused the 15-nation bloc of using food safety as a pretext for protectionism. The EU's executive Commission has asked independent scientists to carry out a series of risk-assessment studies in the hope that they will throw up new evidence to back its case. These studies are not expected to be ready before mid-2000. The United States has said up to now that it is only ready to discuss compensation as a temporary solution if the EU pledges to lift its ban in the future, something the EU refuses to do. SOFTENING IN U.S. STANCE? But EU officials said they had detected a slight softening in the U.S. negotiating stance. “They are realizing that the amount of sanctions they have imposed will not be enough to get us to change our minds. Trade sanctions would never force us to compromise food safety in any case,” one official said. He said it might be possible to reach an amicable solution that would see U.S. sanctions repealed in return for market access for U.S. hormone-free beef to the EU before the next round of global trade talks. World leaders are expected to agree the agenda for the so-called Millennium Round of global trade liberalization talks at a meeting in Seattle from November 30 to December 3. But a solution involving compensation, which could see the U.S. annual import quota for hormone-free beef raised from its current 11,500 tonnes a year, would not happen until the two sides resolved other differences, officials said. The United States has unilaterally suspended its exports of hormone-free beef to the EU after questions were raised about its health controls. A meeting between U.S. and EU officials which might break the logjam will take place later this week, the official said.
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