The Eu / Us Beef Trade Dispute Essay
960 Words
Dec 15th, 2016
4 Pages
The United States of America and the 15 countries that comprise the European Union are the two largest economies in the world, and possess the world’s biggest bilateral trading and investment relationship. The enormous impact of trade relations between the two continents creates thousands of jobs and wealth on both sides of the Atlantic. These transatlantic flows of trade and investment amount to around $1 billion a day, and jointly, the global trade accounts for almost 40 % of world trade.
These staggering figures indicate the incredible synergies that can result from cooperative agreements between countries, but are not always free from the perilous touch of political and national interests. Every relationship has its own pitfalls and troubles, and if not kept in check the trade disagreements that arise between these powerful entities can pose a dangerous threat to the entire relationship. Unfortunately, the disagreements that result can become so heated that a complete trade shutdown of certain items occurs.
One such example is the EU/US beef trade dispute. As Michael Paulson of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer notes, as much as 90 % of US beef is produced with the aid of growth hormones and is shipped to 138 countries. The dispute is now in its 14th year after several interesting milestones in the dispute’s history. The Office of the US Trade Representative identifies several important milestones in the case beginning in 1985, when the EU restricted use of hormones to…
These staggering figures indicate the incredible synergies that can result from cooperative agreements between countries, but are not always free from the perilous touch of political and national interests. Every relationship has its own pitfalls and troubles, and if not kept in check the trade disagreements that arise between these powerful entities can pose a dangerous threat to the entire relationship. Unfortunately, the disagreements that result can become so heated that a complete trade shutdown of certain items occurs.
One such example is the EU/US beef trade dispute. As Michael Paulson of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer notes, as much as 90 % of US beef is produced with the aid of growth hormones and is shipped to 138 countries. The dispute is now in its 14th year after several interesting milestones in the dispute’s history. The Office of the US Trade Representative identifies several important milestones in the case beginning in 1985, when the EU restricted use of hormones to…