EU Beef Ban Challenged

The U.S. Trade Representative is planning a public hearing in mid-February to consider possibly reinstating punitive trade measures against the European Union over the EU's ban on beef grown with certain hormone implants.  The hearing starts the process of possibly imposing punitive tariffs on as much as $116.8 million on imports from the EU. USTR is taking such actions even as the Obama administration is preparing to leave and President-elect Donald Trump has yet to name a U.S. trade ambassador to oversee the agency. Nonetheless, the USTR set a Feb. 15 date for a hearing at the request of the beef industry earlier this month.