On Monday 25 January, the Agriculture Ministers of the European Union were divided on the effects on agriculture of the trade and free trade agreements negotiated or finalised with certain non-Member States.
Janusz Wojciechowski, the Commissioner for Agriculture, welcomed the recent agreement finalised by the EU and the United Kingdom, which includes duty-free and quota-free access. Producers and exporters on both sides must comply with the rules of origin in order to benefit from the preferential access conditions, the Commissioner said. On Geographical Indications (GIs), the bilateral agreement includes only a revision clause.
Overall, the controversial agreement with Mercosur is very good for the EU, both commercially and politically, and “we believe we have found acceptable landing places for sensitive agricultural sectors”, said Mr Wojciechowski. The free trade agreement with Mexico is an excellent result for EU agri-food and GIs, according to the Commission.
In 2021, negotiations with Chile, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia will continue.
In addition, the Commission and several Agriculture Ministers regretted that the US has decided to impose additional sanctions on new EU agri-food products (French and German wines and spirits made from grapes).
The Commission “continues to analyse the US measures which, at first glance, do not appear to be justified”, in particular because the US has changed the reference period compared to its previous sanctions, the Commissioner explained.
Agri-food trade. Between January and October 2020, exports from the 27 EU countries totalled €151.8 billion (up 0.5% on the same period in 2019), while imports amounted to €102 billion (up 0.1%). As a result, the agri-food trade surplus increased by 1.3% to €49.8 billion.
These figures stand out in the monthly report on the agri-food trade published on Monday 25 January: https://bit.ly/3sVtZMo (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)