IN
THE
WIND
P40
Bikes for Beef? Not Anymore.
T
he long-running "Bikes for Beef" saga, which
has been posing an ominous threat for Euro-
pean-based motorcycle manufacturers of 50-
500cc motorcycles (read: KTM/Husqvarna), has
finally come to a close. Due to the EU's refusal
to purchase U.S. beef, the USTR (United States
Trade Representative) proposed a retaliatory tariff
of 100% on a list of products, including motorcy-
cles. The action threatened the livelihood of KTM
North America and its Husqvarna Motorcycles
counterpart, but President John Hinz was pleased
to share that the issue has been resolved, lifting a
dark cloud from the U.S. distributor of the Austri-
an-based brands.
The USTR announced on August 2 that the
U.S. and the EU finally came together on a break-
through agreement on U.S. beef access to the
EU. Over the course of seven years, the exclu-
sive U.S. beef quota to Europe has increased
to 35,000 metric tons, growing from the current
quota of 13,000 metric tons. Because of this
quota, it is no longer necessary for the U.S. to
impose a retaliatory tariff of 100% on 50-500cc
motorcycles. The agreement marks a huge sigh of
relief for KTM/Husqvarna and a notable victory for
the motorcycle industry.
"It's a huge win for us," said Hinz. "We've been
actively working on this for the last two and a
half years. The next step, for me, is how do we
get 50-500cc motorcycles off of this carousel of
products? If something ever changes again and
they want to bring this back, I want motorcycles
permanently removed from this list."
Jean Turner
"Just seeing old friends talking, some who
haven't been on track together for 30 years,
makes it worthwhile."
It might have been the most enjoyable moto
event of our lives. The Northwest has pro-
duced many Legends including Randy Skiver,
Joe Pittman and Mike Sullivan. But, after sun-
A reunion of the legends in Shelton, Washington.
set came the realization: If we don't keep road
racing, nobody will ever out-do Bruce Lind,
Gus Denzler and Ken Botham. That's why,
after consulting with riders, a 2020 Reunion
at Pacific Raceways (formerly Seattle Interna-
tional Raceway) is on the cards.
Bruce Scholten
