France Fumes Over US Roquefort Tax

[Canuckistanian]

Source: Time



Pieces of French Roquefort blue cheese are displayed in a shop in Paris January 16, 2009.
Philippe Wojazer / Reuters

By Bruce Crumley / Paris Friday, Jan. 16, 2009

You can laugh at their accents, mock their leaders, and even ban their fries from the Congressional menu without getting much of a rise from the French. But start messing with their beloved cheeses, as the U.S. has now done, and the famous Gallic shrug will rapidly give way to outraged shouts of protest.

French government officials are fighting mad following Thursday's announcement by U.S. trade authorities that Washington is tripling the tariff on Roquefort cheese imports from France. The famous blue-veined delicacy is among scores of European products targeted by a 100% levy the U.S. imposed in 1999 in retaliation for the European Union's longstanding ban on hormone-treated American beef on the grounds that it may be unsafe to eat. But unlike other goods on the list — truffles, ham, chocolate, mineral water, sausages, and certain fruits and vegetables — Roquefort is the only one whose tariffs is to be boosted from 100% to 300%.

So why's the U.S. picking on Roquefort? Many French, including senior government officials, believe it's a parting shot from U.S. President George W. Bush, whose attitude toward France has ranged between annoyance and contempt — or at least that's the perception here. (The feeling is mutual.) "I'm shocked that among the last moves by the outgoing Bush administration is this increase in duties," fumed secretary of state for foreign trade Anne-Marie Idrac, who like most French officials believes the singling out of a famous French product is more than just a coincidence.

~ snip

Jacques Mistral, head of economic research at the French Institute of Foreign Relations in Paris says Thursday's move reflects a last-gasp provocation by the Bush administration, which has never forgotten France's emphatic non before the invasion of Iraq. Mistral — who was economic adviser at the French Embassy in Washington during the stormy period from 2001 to 2006 — says the current swipe at Roquefort will prove less economically threatening than the Iraq-triggered American public boycott of France's wines in 2003 — and shorter-lived than the deportation of French fries from Congress' menu. "Even from this administration, I was astounded by such a grotesque, petty and inefficient gesture in its last hours in office," Mistral says. "No U.S. sector benefits from this, and there's no way the E.U. will reverse its ban on hormone-raised beef that consumers here don't want. I suspect we'll see this move reversed by the new administration as both obnoxious and futile." For a nation derided by France-bashers as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys", them's fighting words.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1872241,00.html

[WriteDown]

1. Good...

We should be employing people who can make cheese here in the US!

[xxqqqzme]

9. Not a cheese person, I see.

There are plenty of excellent cheeses made in the US. I am particularly fond of Cabot's sharp white cheddar made in Vermont and there is a good brick I order from a co-op dairy in Wisconsin. California makes a passable bleu cheese - good for scattering in salads. But a room temperature roquefort...there's nothing like it. It is to be savored and enjoyed w/ fruit and a good pinot noir (that's how I like it anyway)

[nichomachus]

2. I think Obama should have reversed this first

After all, being without my Roquefort is pretty close to torture.

Seriously, wouldn't this be included in all the regs that Obama put a hold on right after being sworn in? I know he told the agencies to hold off on a whole bunch.

And if it doesn't get reversed, God help any American who is trying to get a work visa for France. You are so screwed.

[CTyankee]

6. My friend's daughter had a HORRIBLE time with the French consulate's office

in New York when she was trying to get a visa for her junior year abroad with her college. My friend said the staff there would ask for tons of paper work and after they brought it all in, they said they needed something else. "we have to make sure she really is a student," they said, even though she had verification that she was a student from her college. She barely made it to France to start her classes and my friend was frantic...

[Kittycat]

3. Imagine that, they don't want to eat Hormone injected beef. Neither do I.

I wish my government cared enough as the French do about their citizens.

[Renew Deal]

4. That's funny

Bush jacked up taxes on one particular cheese. :rofl:

[nykym]

8. That's because it doesn't come

packaged in plastic and is made from chemicals

[jmowreader]

14. This one particular cheese comes from one particular place

Roquefort comes only from France. That's why it was singled out.

I say we import some casa marzu (maggot cheese), and make Bush eat the shit.

[Mass]

5. May be they disliked the fact it was a blue cheese?

[naaman fletcher]

7. The article is misleading..

Tariffs are going up on a wide range of european products as a retaliation against Europe banning certain US foods, particularly beef and chicken. Not saying that is right or wrong, just that this article makes it out as if this one cheese was targeted for no specific reason.

[Alcibiades]

11. It was singled out

"Roquefort is the only one whose tariffs is to be boosted from 100% to 300%."

[naaman fletcher]

12. yeah, i think that is just incorrect..

perhaps it is the only French cheese going up that much, but there are a lot of other products, including Swiss Lingonberry Jam.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. No, it is correct

(and Swiss jam wouldn't attract the punitive tariff, since they're not in the EU).

http://www.strtrade.com/wti/2009/january/16/ustr_retaliation_list.pdf

At the end, it lists the tariffs - only Roquefort is at 300%; all others are at 100%. At the start, it states:

In particular, as described
in this notice and its annex, the Trade Representative has decided: (I) to remove some products
from the list of products currently subject to I00 percent ad valorem duties; (2) to impose 100
percent ad valorem duties on some new products from certain EC member States; (3) to modify
the coverage with respect to particular EC member States; and (4) to raise the level of duties on
one of the products that is being maintained on the product list.

And for some reason, the United Kingdom doesn't appear in the list of countries, although all 26 other EU countries do.

[naaman fletcher]

16. sorry..

meant swedish, not swiss.

[katty]

10. another scapegoat: cheese

[Iterate]

13. Time, of course, misses the point.

They exaggerate the small story and miss the big one, all with their copyrighted smirk.

Trust me, the French may notice the insult and may retaliate on principle but I doubt anyone there cares if Americans miss out on the delights of quality food. Their Roquefort exports to the US are a tiny percentage of the total, and even then only the lower quality cheeses (as judged by European consumers) are shipped and the best kept for domestic consumption. The same is generally true for wine. I have had better meals and better wine at French truck stops than most American cities have to offer. Sorry.

The real story is the corruption of American food, from farm to table, over the last 50 years. There are great cheeses produced in the US, from Vermont to Oregon, but they are overwhelmed on production and price by a subsidized food industry whose motto ought to be "cheap fuel for worker bees".

If that isn't shame enough, along comes the outrage and France-bashing when they would dare say "no thank you" when offered inferior fare.