Senators Urge EU Removal of GI Restrictions on Meat Products
The European Union is trying to impose geographical indication (GI) restrictions on meat products that would inhibit U.S. exports, said nearly half of the U.S. Senate in a recent letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. The Obama administration must scale back the restrictions, particularly with those countries that the U.S. has free trade pacts with or is negotiating an agreement, through the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), said the April 4 letter. “In country after country, the EU has been using its FTAs to persuade trading partners to impose barriers to U.S. exports under the guise of protecting GIs,” said the letter. “For example, as part of their recently implemented FTA with the EU, countries in Central America agreed to impose new restrictions on the use of 'bologna,' effectively closing an export opportunity that the U.S.-Central America FTA opened for U.S. companies.”
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The letter builds on recent congressional pressure to push back against EU efforts to restrict U.S. cheese exports by mandating similar GI regulations on imported cheese (see 14031221). "The EU is at it again. First, they want to stop Pennsylvania’s dairy producers from using some common cheese names. Now they are going after meat producers,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., in a press release associated with the April 4 letter (here). “These guidelines would impose barriers to U.S. sausage and processed meat exports under the pretext of protecting European regional production.”