A U.S. agriculture official took a swipe at the European Union’s import policies in agriculture, a sector America has been urging the bloc to address in trade talks.
The EU is using “non science-based” and “backward-looking” trade protectionist measures when it comes to its farm-good imports, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s chief agriculture negotiator Gregg Doud.
“It’s shocking to me to see the direction Europe is heading when it comes to the use of science and technology in agriculture,” Doud told the National Grain and Feed Association’s annual convention in Amelia Island, Florida….
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Farm production in [the European Union] is subsidized and measures including controls on approvals of genetically-modified products help keep some American goods from going in.
European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has said that agriculture would not be included in free-trade talks with the U.S., and the bloc insists that a pact reached in July to lower trans-Atlantic trade barriers is limited to industrial goods, aside from soybeans. The EU has been a key buyer of the oilseed in recent months, with U.S. exports….doubling amid attractive prices following the trade spat with China.
Read full, original article: U.S. Signals Agriculture Battle With EU Before Trade Talks
