FTA Between U.S. and EU Finds Support

A Free Trade Agreement between the United States and the European Union is a likely option to be considered by a joint international working group on jobs and growth chaired by USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. A coalition of nearly 50 food and agricultural organizations led by the National Pork Producers Council has expressed its support. In a letter to the USTR, the coalition wrote – carried out properly, such an agreement would indeed generate economic growth and create many thousands of new jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

The coalition warned – this would require the EU to be prepared to negotiate and implement the type of high-standard, 21st-century agreement that is central to the administration’s trade policy efforts. Free trade deals negotiated by the EU with other countries do not meet those standards.

One concern is that EU regulatory measures often conflict with the interests of the United States and with World Trade Organization rules, including regulations on “genetically modified” crop approval and labels, which restrict U.S. corn, soy and refined corn product exports and restrictions on production methods in poultry and pork.