EU Votes To Place Import Duties On US Biodiesel

EU diplomats voted Tuesday to slap provisional import duties on US biodiesel in a late effort to support it's own beleaguered biodiesel industry.

EU producers have long complained about a system that allows US producers to get a subsidy from their own government, then ship the product to Europe and gleefully claim another one.

Under EU rules, the commission is entitled to impose provisional duties lasting six months. Any definitive measures, lasting five years, would need approval by European governments before the summer.

The commission intends to impose tariffs of 261 to 407 euros, or $328 to $511, on each tonne of American biodiesel, according to leaked sources.

The US are expected to retaliate by eating fewer cucumber sandwiches, drinking less Earl Grey and placing punitive import duties of it's own on spaghetti hoops and bratwurst sausages.

"And they can stick their triple quarterpounder cheeseburgers with everything on it where the sun don't shine whilst they're at it,” said Johnny Sausage, the secretary general of the European Biodiesel Liberation Army, in a totally non-confrontational way.