http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000154642417163&rtmo=3qm8KS3M&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/7/20/wtrad20.html

Britain escapes trade war sanctions, By Ben Fenton in Washington

BRITAIN became the only European Union country to escape severe penalties imposed by America yesterday in the latest battle in the transatlantic trade war.

In a move unlikely to improve relations with her European trading partners, Britain was singled out for favourable treatment as Washington exacted revenge for the ban imposed on American beef imports to the continent.

The EU had maintained that American and Canadian beef contained hormones that could cause cancer. Britain stuck with the same logic in this row as in the dispute with Brussels over British beef and BSE, namely that insufficient scientific evidence existed to justify a ban on importation from North America.

The 100 per cent tariffs, approved by the World Trade Organisation, will hit $116.8 million (£75 million) of European exports to America, mostly beef, pork and chocolate. Peter Scher, the special negotiator for the US Trade Representative, said: "We explicitly omitted the United Kingdom because of its consistent voting record against the EU's import ban."

He added that the tariffs were mainly directed against France, Germany, Italy and Denmark, which had been foremost in the action against hormone-treated American beef. Although the bulk of the products affected are meats, the tariffs will also punish French and German mustard, chocolate, Rocquefort cheese, soups, and tomato products.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), July 20, 1999

Answers

They didn't say anything about Italian pine nuts. I bought another bag yesterday, just in case! (They really are part of my stash - I use them in a lot of things.) Guess my aunt will be missing her Rocquefort this year, and I will miss the German meats.

Still, the foods listed in the article I can well live without. As long as this trade war sticks to foods, then OK. Of course, I am not in the import/export business. They will be hurting.

- Margaret

-- Margaret (janssm@aol.com), July 20, 1999.

I will really miss those little 1 lb. Danish hams. Perfect for the Y2K pantry.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), July 21, 1999.

Look at an Asian grocery. One that I shop at regularly has a huge stack of 1 pound canned hams. A second one that I shop at (I'm in oklahoma City), has 4 pound boxes of dried milk for $3.15, this same size sells for $7.50 at Sams and almost ten dollars in regular grocery stores. The Asian grocers are also good places to buy spices, incense, 50 pound bags of rice, canned Danish sugar cookies, and big packages of Asian noodles (more varieties of "cup of soup" type products than you can imagine.)

http://www.justpeace.org/printflyers.htm

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), July 21, 1999.