The European Parliament approved a deal between the EU and both the United States and Canada on hormone-treated beef on Wednesday, ending one of the trading powers' oldest disputes. The European Union had banned imports of beef from cattle treated with growth hormones in 1900, and the U.S. and Canada responded with steep sanctions worth $125 million on European products.
The EU and Washington had agreed in 2009 that the 27-member bloc would keep its ban on hormone-treated beef but that the U.S. would gradually lift its sanctions in exchange for a steep rise in the EU's duty-free import quotas of hormone-free beef.