The European Commission has rejected claims by the IFA that the deal between the EU and the US on hormone-free beef imports amounted to a “backdoor arrangement” or a “sweetheart deal with President Trump”.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said that “these suggestions, together with the convenient but misleading association of this agreement with the political deal reached recently with Mercosur, demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of what has been agreed with the United States”.

Interim solution

The reality is that this agreement is no more than a solution to a long-standing dispute in the WTO, going back to the 1990s, and replaces an interim solution reached in 2009, the spokesperson said.

The agreement follows the approval by the EU member states in October 2018 for the Commission to open negotiations with the US, including on country allocations.

Those negotiations were successfully concluded on 27 February 2019 and include provision to ringfence 35,000t of the overall quota of 45,000t for the US, to be phased in over seven years, the spokespersons said, adding that the outcome has since been approved by the EU member states.

“The essential point is that not one single additional tonne of beef will be imported to the EU as a result of this deal.

“The satisfactory conclusion of these negotiations brings a 30-year-old trade dispute to an end and, with that, the end of any threat of US retaliatory action, which might have had a negative impact on EU agri-food products. Such action would certainly not have been in the interests of European farmers.”

South American beef

Meanwhile, commenting on claims that the EU should immediately discontinue the importation of “sub-standard” beef from South America, the European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan said: “All agri-food products imported to the EU, whether from South America or elsewhere, must meet stringent EU standards.

“Failure to meet these standards will result in the product being returned to the country of origin.

"The EU insists on the strict application of sanitary standards in the interests of both EU producers and consumers.

“This is the case today and will continue to be the case in the future.

“Anyone who has any evidence of sub-standard product being imported into the EU should provide that evidence and can be assured that it will be thoroughly investigated by the Commission,” he said.

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