cheese-wire.com

America’s imposition of a massive cheese tax on French Roquefort has been delayed to allow time to seek a solution to an escalating trade war.

The hike of import duties on the pungent cheese was to be imposed in March in retaliation for an E.U. ban on American beef containing hormones, but officials say this will now be postponed by a month.

The sheer scale of the 300 percent levy has been seen as a farewell insult by departing U.S. President George W. Bush to France, which opposed America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Cheese producers and sheep farmers around the ancient French community of Roquefort, where the creamy blue veined cheese is made, have protested against the tax increase, which also targets other European delicacies.

Now U.S. officials say the move will be delayed until April 26 in an effort to resolve the dispute, which dates back to the 1980s.

“The purpose of the modified trade action announced earlier this year was to encourage a resolution of the longstanding beef hormones dispute that would offer a fair outcome for the U.S. beef industry, while also addressing the economic impact of the prior trade action on U.S. interests,” Nefeterius McPherson of the U.S. Trade Representative office said.

“USTR is currently in discussions with the European Commission on a possible interim solution that would provide benefits for US beef producers.

“USTR has decided to delay the trade action in order to give this process every possibility of success,” she added.

Click here to read full USTR statement