The battle is far from over. Prior to President Clinton's visit to Europe at the end of May, the EU reaffirmed that it would not allow hormone-treated beef imports. The U.S. responded by threatening to introduce a new list of products that would be subject to 100 percent punitive tariff rates. Imposing punitive import tariffs, which doubles the price of certain EU products imported into the U.S. is a fair and reasonable response to the groundless ban on U.S. beef. Europeans hide behind shaky science on hormones when their true intent is to protect their own farmers from U.S. products.
Protectionism has no place in the global economy.
The EU is under intense pressure from the U.S. to accept hormone-treated beef and that pressure is driven by a powerful meat industry, which is ignoring concerns about the safety of hormones used to treat its cattle. Nations should have the right to block imports of products they believe are unsafe. The use of international trade law to overturn internal domestic laws with strong domestic support is a frightening trend. The European ban on hormone-treated beef has been in effect since 1989. Report on European Commission study on the safety of hormone-treated beef.