At the request of the US beef industry, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has initiated Section 301 proceedings seeking to impose additional duties on certain EU exports to the U.S., including motorcycles fitted with engines between 51cc and 500cc. These additional duties (up to 100%) would intervene in the context of a 20 years long dispute between the EU and the U.S. over an EU decision to ban imports of beef and beef products produced from animals to which hormones have been administered for growth-promotion purposes.
ACEM strongly believes that the measures under consideration by the USTR will not be effective in encouraging a favorable resolution of the dispute, could lead to overcompensation of the damage alleged by US beef exporters, in violation of WTO rules, and most importantly will reduce US consumers’ choice and could cause economic harm and job losses in the US in the motorcycle sector at large.
ACEM requests an exclusion of motorcycles from the proposed list (as presented in Annex 1 of the USTR notice) before additional duties are imposed.