US lawmaker wants Roquefort duty lifted

2009-03-09 19:42:09 -

WASHIONGTON (AP) - The tripling of import duties on French Roquefort cheese is mean, unproductive and should be removed or reduced, a Minnesota congressman said in a letter to President Barack Obama.
Rep. James Oberstar, a Democrat like Obama, said the move would be «a very noble gesture» toward re-establishing America's moral authority and would

be received well in France, where people «enthusiastically followed your campaign and the early stages of your administration.
The former Bush administration slapped sanctions on dozens of European foods in January as part of a larger 13-year trade fight between the European Union and Washington over beef treated with hormones. The new sanctions, which take effect in March, are designed to pressure European governments to comply with World Trade Organization rulings and lift the ban on U.S. beef.
«Freedom fries and freedom toast did serious damage to U.S.-French relations,» Oberstar said, referring to the temporary renaming of two French dishes in the House of Representatives' cafeteria when France opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
«We both want to re-establish America's moral authority in the world under your presidency; a very noble gesture toward that goal would be to remove or reduce this mean-spirited and unproductive punitive duty on Roquefort cheese.
Oberstar said although he was a supporter of «buy American, it is for unfairly subsidized foreign products when they are identical or comparable to ours. Roquefort cheese is not in this category.
In January French farmers demonstrated outside the U.S. Embassy in Paris, urging Obama to stop holding Roquefort cheese hostage in the trade fight.
Martin Malvy, president of Roquefort's home region near southern France, sent Obama a 4.5 pound (2 kilogram) package of the pungent cheese to mark his ascension to office.
France exported 3,800 tons (3,450 metric tons) of Roquefort in 2007, about a fifth of its total production. The United States was the No. 3 importer of the cheese behind Spain and Germany.
Oberstar's undated letter to Obama was made available by the French Embassy.