The United States lifted import duties on European luxury foods on Friday in return for a promise of bigger hormone-free beef sales to the European Union, signalling an end to one of the trading powers' oldest disputes, according to Reuters. The United States said in its Federal Register it had dropped punitive duties on a list of EU goods - from truffles to chocolates and cheese - that had been subject to sanctions in retaliation for the EU refusal to import hormone-treated beef. The two sides agreed in 2009 that the U.S. would gradually lift sanctions while the EU would admit 45,000 tonnes of U.S. hormone-free beef to its markets duty-free, but the final phase of the deal had been scheduled for August 2012. "We feel the EU beef agreement has worked very well so far. Our high-quality beef exports to the EU have doubled since the new duty-free import plan was established," said Nkenge Harmon, spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office. She said a failure by the European Union to honour the deal could result in renewed sanctions. The case dates back to the 1980s and has led to U.S. and Canadian sanctions of $125 million a year, approved by the World Trade Organization, on European products from Roquefort cheese to mustard. The U.S. previously lifted duties on part of the EU goods, and the EU currently admits 20,000 tonnes of hormone-free U.S. beef duty-free. U.S. ranchers welcomed the early end to the sanctions, saying they hoped it would prompt the EU to meet its side of the bargain quickly. "European consumers are buying more and more U.S. beef and we would definitely look forward to having that opportunity to meet an even higher quota," said Kent Bacus, manager of legislative affairs for the U.S. National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The EU has insisted its ban on hormone-treated beef, which is largely approved by EU consumers, rests on scientific evidence of health risks, though the United States and Canada reject such evidence. The EU Commission offices for trade and agriculture said preparations were under way to increase market access opportunities for U.S. exporters of non-hormone treated beef. "We welcome this step by which the U.S. is moving forward ahead of time in their implementation of the memorandum of understanding on high quality beef -- this is a very positive signal and welcome step towards the settlement of this dispute," the Commission's trade and agriculture spokesmen said. Friday's decision eliminates the remaining U.S. sanctions, affecting goods whose sales in the United States amounted to about $38 million a year in the late 1990s. The sanctions cut these sales to about $3 million, according to EU data.
