EU approves increase of US beef imports to ease bilateral trade tensions

EU legislators approved an increase of US beef imports to the EU on Thursday (11/29), a move that is likely to ease transatlantic tensions. But they also criticized US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on metal imports and a threat he made to attack EU vehicles and auto parts.

The European Parliament voted 457-140, with 71 abstentions, in favor of a plan to allow US farmers a larger share of an existing 45,000-ton quota from 2020.

The vote came with a resolution calling for the removal of US tariffs on EU steel and aluminum and the removal of Trump’s threat to raise EU car tariffs.

The beef deal was set up to resolve a dispute dating back to 1981, when the EU banned the use of growth hormone in beef across the 28-nation bloc, including imports.

The EU and the United States finally concluded an agreement in 2009 to grant a quota for hormone-free beef imports, currently at 45,000 tons. However, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, the quota also had to be made available to non-US suppliers.

Exporters from Australia and Uruguay, and more recently from Argentina, decided to participate in the quota, reducing US participation from almost 100% to 30%.

Under the revised agreement, with which other countries had to agree, US farmers will earn an initial 18,500 tons of quota, increasing to 35,000 tons after seven years.

“The message of this agreement is clear: we would like to ease trade tensions with the US, but we want to see the same reduction efforts on the other side of the Atlantic,” sai Bernd Lange, head of the trade committee.

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