US agrees to postpone duty hikes in beef hormone row

Washington agreed Wednesday to postpone for two weeks introducing additional duties on a number of EU products in a long-running row over beef hormones, the European Commission said Wednesday. The new duties, including a crippling 300-percent import duty on France's Roquefort cheese, were supposed to take effect on Thursday, but the two sides agreed instead to seek a negotiated solution. "We have agreed today that our senior officials will hold further talks with a view to finding a negotiated solution to the long-running dispute," EU trade chief Catherine Ashton said after a phone call with US counterpart Ron Kirk. "We are both aware that this is a difficult issue that affects businesses and consumers in both the European Union and the United States," she said in a statement. "We want to overcome those difficulties, and we believe that a solution is within reach that will benefit both sides." In the final days of George W. Bush's presidency, Washington decided to impose the new tariffs on European products in retaliation for an EU ban on US hormone-treated beef...AFP