US roquefort tariff angers French (getting his last digs in)

[DainBramaged]

They were left battered by farmer Jose Bové's attacks on McDonald's and bruised by the birth of the "freedom fry". But yesterday the French and the Americans proved they had the stomach for another gloriously messy food fight.

Less than a week before it leaves office, the Bush administration has sparked anger across the Atlantic by tripling the import duty rate on roquefort cheese to 300%, a move which the US hopes will "shut down trade" in the sheep's milk product by making it prohibitively expensive.

The decision, part of Washington's attempts to force the EU into dropping its ban on hormone-treated beef, was greeted with disbelief by the French government and by farmers in the south-western Aveyron region who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.

"Maybe the Bush administration indulged itself by taking this decision just before it leaves," Robert Glandieres, president of the roquefort producers' group, told Reuters.

The tariff on roquefort, condemned as "incomprehensible and inadmissible" by the French government, will probably have a minimal effect, given exports to the US account for just 2% of annual sales. French farmers said it would mean "the end" for roquefort in the US and vowed to take "symbolic actions" in return.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/17/france-america-import-tariffs

[SpiralHawk]

1. Down with Revanchist Roquefort Republicons !

Talk about cheesy...

what do the Cabal O' Chickenhawk Republicon Homelander Cronies want: to force us to eat some kind of freaky mutant industrial 'Freedom Cheese' that you squeeze out of a freakin plastic bottle?

Sacre Fromage! Ptoooey on that unpalatable shit.

Get the rotten smell of anti-cheese Homelanders out of Washington. Now.

Image of "old fashioned" (WTF?) microwaveable (WTF?) Republicon cheese:

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. To be expected from assholes...

who live on white bread and Velveeta.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB114565902896732856.html

"If pressed, Mr. Scheib lets out a few details about life with the most powerful man on the planet and his family. Mr. Scheib's nickname, not surprisingly, was "Cookie." When the president doesn't want peanut butter for lunch, he has his choice of a cheeseburger, a BLT or a grilled-cheese sandwich. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, and through the first term, lavish dinners all but disappeared from the White House routine, replaced by working lunches and small meals in the residence."

[Dr.Phool]

3. The last time he pulled shit like this, France retaliated by.

Raising the tariff on citrus products, which sent Jeb squealing to his big brother.

Looks like I'll be freezing a lot of fresh-squeezed juice again this year.

[NashVegas]

4. Don't Worry. The Have Mores Will Give a Huge Outcry Over This

Whole Foods and Costco shoppers enjoy their Societe and Papillion.

[Enthusiast]

5. The Bushes are culinary children

as witnessed by G. H. W. Bush and his hatred of broccoli. His son has likely never had blue cheese of any stripe let alone the classic Roquefort. Dullards, one and all.