The EU Commission makes food a red line in Trump negotiations

The EU Commission rejects that it will relax EU food standards as part of a negotiation on tariffs with the USA.

“It is a red line,” says a spokesperson for the EU Commission on Tuesday.

The statement comes after the President of the USA, Donald Trump, criticized the EU for buying too few food products from the USA.

One of the obstacles for American goods is that the EU has higher quality standards for food than the USA.

But the EU will under no circumstances open up for more American food in the European market by relaxing food standards, says the spokesperson for the EU Commission.

“It is crucial to remember that EU standards for food, health, and safety are sacrosanct.”

“They are not up for negotiation. Our citizens expect those standards to be upheld. And they will be,” says the spokesperson.

In Europe, there has long been skepticism about, for example, allowing hormone-treated American meat. Chlorinated American chickens have also made Europeans wrinkle their noses.

However, this does not mean that the European market is closed off to American food, according to the EU Commission.

“In 2023, the EU imported food worth 12 billion euros from the USA. The EU’s import of American food has increased by 77 percent since 2005,” says the spokesperson for the EU Commission.

The amount corresponds to nearly 90 billion kroner.

“We can safely say that when it comes to food trade, both parties gain something from the exchange,” says the spokesperson.

Although the figure sounds high, American exports to the EU are surpassed by Danish food exports to the EU.

According to Dansk Industri, Denmark exported food worth 93 billion kroner to other EU countries in 2023.

Thus, Denmark’s food exports to the EU were larger than those of the USA in 2023.

If the USA wants to export more to the EU, the country will have to meet EU standards. According to the EU Commission, Trump cannot pressure for lower food standards in Europe:

“We do not want to negotiate through the press, but we want to give assurance to citizens that they should not be worried.”

“We do not compromise on citizens’ health and well-being,” says a spokesperson for the EU Commission.

EU Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic continued meetings in the USA on Monday in an attempt to reach an agreement before the 90-day tariff pause expires.

After the meeting, Sefcovic wrote on the social media platform X that the EU is ready for a “fair deal,” and that the EU maintains its zero-to-zero tariff offer on industrial goods.

This means that the EU will not impose tariffs on American industrial goods if the USA does the same regarding the EU.

Thus, the EU is proposing an agreement that may avert a trade war with the USA. However, Sefcovic added that “achieving this will require a significant joint effort from both sides.”

The spokesperson for the EU Commission emphasizes that this should not be interpreted as the meeting being without progress.

“It was a focused and productive meeting. But we want to hear more from the Americans about what their preferred outcome of the negotiation is.”

“The meeting was used to discuss the delineation of areas for an agreement and outlines of possible solutions,” says the spokesperson.