It's lobbying the US government to take the case to the World Trade Organisation. And the fact that Europe has put a moratorium for what we understand to be up to 2 years, is not approving these products in a timely fashion. The approval of GM crops will be discussed at the next big meeting of the WTO in Seattle at the end of November, when the next big round of global trade talks is launched. It's bound to be a subject of fierce debate. The US Trade Representative, Charlene Barshevsky, says Europe has set dangerous precedents by breaking world trade rules.
Retaliation is very much a last resort.
But the important point is that a Europe which does not comply with the rules, undermines the very multilateral system it believes it is upholding. And it's extremely, extremely dangerous for the global community in general. World trade has never been so political. Meanwhile cattle farmers Gray Coyner and Martin Tilbrook continue to get up early and tend their herds, and wait for the trade battles to be played out in arenas far from their quiet farms.