US concerned by continuing EU barriers to trade

By Carina Perkins

- Last updated on GMT

EU meat import restrictions concern US
EU meat import restrictions concern US

Related tags Eu member states International trade Livestock

EU barriers to US agricultural produce remain a “significant concern” despite recent progress towards a transatlantic trade agreement, the US Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has revealed.

Speaking at the recent WTO Trade Policy Review of the EU in Geneva, Ambassador Michael Punke said the US and the EU had a strong trading relationship, which could be further improved by the Transatlantic Trade Partnership (TTIP) negotiations.

However, he added that there remained concerns with EU trade and investment policies in a number of areas, the most pressing of which was “high tariff protection and non-tariff barriers”​ to agricultural trade, including “sanitary and phytosanitary measures that are not based on science or risk assessment”.

Punke gave the example of the ban on ractopamine in livestock production, despite never having submitted a “valid risk assessment”​ or “compelling scientific evidence”​ to support the measure. He added that such barriers to trade meant that “US agricultural exporters have been unable to take full advantage of the market access obligations agreed to by the EU”​ during WTO negotiations.

The ambassador also raised concerns over EU technical regulations that resulted in trade disruption, and criticised the lack of opportunity for trading partners to comment on proposed EU regulations and legislation.

“Our experience has been that internal deliberations within the Commission and among EU member states on draft regulatory proposals progress much too far before trading partners and their stakeholders can provide views on the proposed text. As a result, by the time the EU considers these views, it is often too late to influence the character of the regulatory proposal, even on matters that have enormous trade implications,”​ he said.

He added that “inconsistent”​ implementation of internal market rules continued to constrain trade for both EU and foreign producers, and called for further progress towards the free flow of goods between EU member states.

Trade relations

The US and EU recently completed the first round of TTIP negotiations in Washington, with EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia-Bercero describing it as a “productive week”.

During the first round, the negotiators focused on agreeing the range of topics to be covered by TTIP, and Garcia-Bercero confirmed these will include market access for agricultural goods and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, as well as regulatory measures.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said that the discussions had “set the stage”​ for “increased substantive engagement”​ at the second round, which is due to take place in Brussels on the week commencing 7 October.

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