Irish beef exports to the US could be trade war victim
Irish beef exports to the US could be threatened by escalating trade disagreements between the EU and US, .
In the latest development, the EU is threatening to impose retaliatory measures on several key products from the US, including whiskey, orange juice, and dairy products, if President Trump follows through with plans to limit steel imports based on national security concerns.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said the EU is prepared to “react with counter-measures” within “days”, if President Trump imposes steel tariffs.
The EU is using the threat of retaliation to convince the Trump administration to exempt EU steel from the scope of any restrictions on steel. It adds to trade tensions already simmering in the long-standing conflict with the US over the EU’s ban on the use of growth hormones in beef cattle.
That 20-year old row was re-ignited by the US meat industry recently pushing for a change in the EU’s beef import rules, trying to persuade President Donald Trump’s trade representative Robert Lighthizer to impose new duties on EU exports.
His predecessor in the Obama administration started a process late last year to prepare retaliatory tariffs on EU exports because of the continuing hormone meat ban.
This will bring pressure from the European exporters who the tariffs would hurt on their member governments, and onto the European Commission.
