Karl De Gucht
European Union Trade Commissioner Karl De Gucht on Tuesday expressed enthusiasm for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership that the United States and the European Union are negotiating, but said that agreement will not include the European importation of hormone-fed beef.

De Gucht, who traveled to Washington this week, said in a statement that coordinating regulatory approaches is a very important part of the agreement, but that the agreement would not include changes to what Europeans consider food safety matters.

De Gucht said in a press statement that the European Union wants closer coordination “so that where safety levels are similar, double testing and double inspections can be avoided in future to save companies money” and “so that future differences in regulation can be avoided before they become a trade hurdle for companies.”

But he added, “Yes, there will be areas where we will not be able to agree. That's ok. Hormone beef is such an example. Let me be very clear again: we do not even discuss hormone beef in TTIP and we will NOT at any point in our discussions. Why? Because hormone beef is prohibited in Europe, and we do not intend to change this. And our American partners know this very well.”

The U.S. meat industry has urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to insist on access to the European meat markets.