Back
Jun 09, 2016
In a letter to United States Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week, ASA and fellow farm groups pushed to ensure that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) effectively addresses all forms of barriers U.S. food and agricultural products face in exporting to the European Union (EU). ASA and other groups in the letter stated their overall support for the effort to finalize TTIP, but noted that it could not support an agreement that “comes at the expense of resolving the toughest EU market access issues for U.S. food and agriculture.”
“We are concerned that in other trade agreements the EU has been successful in exempting sensitive agricultural sectors and regulatory barriers from meaningful liberalization,” wrote the groups in the letter. “We believe the EU intends the same for TTIP. We could not support such an outcome and we would not accept as consolation any form of consultative mechanism to deal with the controversial agriculture issues later.”
