USA-EU announce details of trade deal

Reached on 21 August after weeks of negotiations, the agreement ended months of uncertainty for industries and consumers.

In an official joint statement, the USA and the EU said the agreement was the first step in a process that could be expanded over time to cover additional areas and continue to improve market access and increase their trade and investment relationship.

As part of the agreement, the EU would remove tariffs on all US industrial goods and provide preferential market access for a wide range of US seafood and agricultural goods, including soyabean oil, planting seeds, processed foods, tree nuts, dairy products, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, and pork and bison meat.

Meanwhile, almost all EU goods entering the USA from 1 September would be subject to a 15% baseline tariff.

The deal also included updated tariffs on cars, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, and other sectors.

In addition, the EU said it would work to address the concerns of US producers regarding the EU Deforestation Law (EUDR) to avoid undue impact on trade, as production in the USA posed “negligible risk” to global deforestation, the report said.

Copa Cogeca said the deal “grants improved market access for US agri-food products, while EU producers are left facing higher tariffs, now rising to 15%, on key export products”.

“This one-sided outcome is not only unjustified – it is deeply damaging to a sector already under pressure from rising costs, regulatory constraints and increasing global competition,” a 22 August Agrilandreport quoted the group as saying.

“The European Commission must continue to negotiate with the US lowering of the tariffs on key agricultural exports.”

The organisation called on the EU Commission to urgently conduct an impact assessment of the agreement on the EU agriculture sector, including a detailed analysis of the substitution effects.

“Competitor countries, for example Australia and Argentina, will continue to benefit from lower 10% tariffs, meaning EU producers are now at an even greater disadvantage in a key market,” the organisation added.

Agri-food trade organisation CELCAA said that although the agreement provided a baseline for further discussion, it explicitly excluded some agri-food lines from any potential ‘zero for zero’ deal going forward.

In its 22 July statement, the organisation said it continued to hope for a more constructive trading environment between the EU and the USA in the future.

Tags: exports, soyabean oil, pork, tariffs, Meat, processed foods, European Union, planting seeds, USA, tree nuts, agricultural goods, bison, trade deal, vegetables, seafood, dairy products, fruits