George Bush effectively bans Roquefort imports before leaving office
Apparently, the Bush administration never did get over its beef with France. The outgoing president used the final days of his presidency to impose an impossibly high 300 per cent tariff on—wait for it—Roquefort cheese, the French delicacy the Washington Post describes as a “creamy concoction that, in its authentic, most glorious form, comes with an odor of wet sheep and veins of blue mold.” U.S. officials have described the ban as retaliation for the European Union’s ban on American beef that’s been treated with hormones. And indeed, its list of tariffs includes many European luxury products such as French truffles, Irish oatmeal, Italian sparkling water and foie gras. But Roquefort cheese producers say only their product got hit with such a high tariff that it will be impossible to export.