USDA Announces Details of Assistance for Farmers Impacted by Unjustified Retaliation

(Washington, D.C., August 27, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced details of actions the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will take to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation by foreign nations. President Donald J. Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a short-term relief strategy to protect agricultural producers while the Administration works on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets in the long run to help American farmers compete globally. As announced last month, USDA will authorize up to $12 billion in programs, consistent with our World Trade Organization obligations.

“Early on, the President instructed me, as Secretary of Agriculture, to make sure our farmers did not bear the brunt of unfair retaliatory tariffs. After careful analysis by our team at USDA, we have formulated our strategy to mitigate the trade damages sustained by our farmers. Our farmers work hard, and are the most productive in the world, and we aim to protect them,” said Secretary Perdue.

These programs will assist agricultural producers to meet the costs of disrupted markets:

• USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will administer the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) to provide payments to corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean, and wheat producers starting September 4, 2018. An announcement about further payments will be made in the coming months, if warranted.
• USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will administer a Food Purchase and Distribution Program to purchase up to $1.2 billion in commodities unfairly targeted by unjustified retaliation. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will distribute these commodities through nutrition assistance programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and child nutrition programs.
• Through the Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP), $200 million will be made available to develop foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products. The program will help U.S. agricultural exporters identify and access new markets and help mitigate the adverse effects of other countries’ restrictions.

“President Trump has been standing up to China and other nations, sending the clear message that the United States will no longer tolerate their unfair trade practices, which include non-tariff trade barriers and the theft of intellectual property. In short, the President has taken action to benefit all sectors of the American economy – including agriculture – in the long run,” said Secretary Perdue. “It’s important to note all of this could go away tomorrow, if China and the other nations simply correct their behavior. But in the meantime, the programs we are announcing today buys time for the President to strike long-lasting trade deals to benefit our entire economy.”

Source: https://www.fas.usda.gov/newsroom/usda-announces-details-assistance-farmers-impacted-unjustified-retaliation 

Joint EU-U.S. Statement following President Juncker’s visit to the White House

President Juncker was received at the White House by President Donald Trump yesterday. Both Presidents had an open dialogue on issues of interest for EU-US relations, notably trade. The Commission President was accompanied by Commissioner Malmström. The successful visit led to a Joint Statement where both sides pledged to work together towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods. President Juncker then delivered a speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (link below). Read the full Joint Statement below.

We met today in Washington, D.C. to launch a new phase in the relationship between the United States and the European Union – a phase of close friendship, of strong trade relations in which both of us will win, of working better together for global security and prosperity, and of fighting jointly against terrorism.

The United States and the European Union together count more than 830 million citizens and more than 50 percent of global GDP. If we team up, we can make our planet a better, more secure, and more prosperous place.
Already today, the United States and the European Union have a $1 trillion bilateral trade relationship – the largest economic relationship in the world. We want to further strengthen this trade relationship to the benefit of all American and European citizens.

This is why we agreed today, first of all, to work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods. We will also work to reduce barriers and increase trade in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products, as well as soybeans.

This will open markets for farmers and workers, increase investment, and lead to greater prosperity in both the United States and the European Union. It will also make trade fairer and more reciprocal.

Secondly, we agreed today to strengthen our strategic cooperation with respect to energy. The European Union wants to import more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to diversify its energy supply.

Thirdly, we agreed today to launch a close dialogue on standards in order to ease trade, reduce bureaucratic obstacles, and slash costs.

Fourthly, we agreed today to join forces to protect American and European companies better from unfair global trade practices. We will therefore work closely together with like-minded partners to reform the WTO and to address unfair trading practices, including intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, industrial subsidies, distortions created by state owned enterprises, and overcapacity.

We decided to set up immediately an Executive Working Group of our closest advisors to carry this joint agenda forward. In addition, it will identify short-term measures to facilitate commercial exchanges and assess existing tariff measures. While we are working on this, we will not go against the spirit of this agreement, unless either party terminates the negotiations.

We also want to resolve the steel and aluminium tariff issues and retaliatory tariffs.

Source: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1898

Report of the 13th Round of TTIP Negotiations; Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues and Agricultural Goods

During the TTIP 13th round of negotiations, "negotiators discussed proposed articles on import checks, certification, the set-up of a Committee structure, emergency measures, transparency, audits, anti-microbial resistance, animal welfare, modern agriculture technologies and trade facilitation to map out objectives and possible ways forward. Good discussions took place on import checks. Both parties agreed on maintaining risk based import checks. Further progress was made on certification, Committees, audits and verification. The EU indicated it does not support a US proposal on modern agricultural technologies.

On animal welfare, the Parties had a first detailed discussion of their respective expectations and concerns. The EU explained the nature of its proposed animal welfare provisions. It was noted that the regulatory approach differs significantly in the EU and US. The EU described the expectations of its legislature and stakeholders. The EU explained its proposal in more detail. The EU answered questions from the US. The EU insisted on the importance of animal welfare provisions in trade agreements and the relevance of the matter for SPS.

On anti-microbial resistance (AMR), a technical presentation by the US was made illustrating the US efforts on AMR domestically and internationally. The EU stressed the importance of joint efforts to fight AMR at all levels in all fora and argued for the inclusion of AMR in the SPS Chapter.

The session on agriculture consisted of three parts: the draft chapter on agriculture, tariffs and non-tariff issues.

As regards the consolidated text on agriculture, good progress was achieved with respect to the least controversial provisions, such as cooperation, committee on agriculture, and spirits, for which the EU had presented a textual proposal in the February round. The Parties maintained their diverging positions regarding other aspects of the chapter.

Regarding tariffs, the discussion centered upon products within the 97% of lines covered by the second offer, with each side flagging specific export interests and requests to reduce proposed staging periods. Products identified as the most sensitive were not reviewed. Finally, the two sides continued discussing specific non-tariff issues related to agriculture."

Source: Report of the 13th Round of Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (New York, 25-29 April 2016) found at http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/may/tradoc_154581.pdf

Draft Study on Impact of TTIP Open For Public Consultation

A draft interim report on the trade agreement being negotiated between the EU and the United States was published on 13^th May 2016. The report was commissioned by the European Commission and carried out by an independent consultant, Ecorys. Ecorys is an international company providing research, consultancy and management service specializing in economic, social and spatial development.

The technical report is a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) highlighting the opportunities that a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could create for people and businesses across Europe and is available for public consultation. Each SIA aims to provide a detailed analysis of the economic, social, human rights and environmental impacts of the trade agreement under negotiation. The carrying out of Sustainability Impact Assessments has been the standard practice of the European Commission on all negotiated trade agreements since 1999. These assessments are carried out during the negotiations and feed into the work of the negotiators as the negotiations progress.

“The report indicates that all Member States’ economies would grow as a result of the new trade agreement. The study also predicts that EU exports to the US would rise by 27% and a mix of social indicators shows a combined benefit both for European and US citizens. The report goes beyond the numbers to also look in detail at the social and environmental impact that TTIP could have.”

The EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström commented: "This report, being a draft version to now be scrutinized, should be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, the report does highlight the many opportunities TTIP presents for the EU. I believe, though, that one particular thing cannot be scientifically captured in any study, however – the impact of TTIP on Europe's ability to shape globalization according to our own standards. Modern trade agreements are one of the tools at our disposal to shape globalization, making it more responsible. With this in mind, both TTIP as well as our trade agreement with Canada (CETA) aim to include progressive chapters on sustainable development, including on labor rights and the environment."

More than 500 interested stakeholders will have the opportunity to review the draft and offer feedback, before the work on the final interim report and recommendations for the end of 2016 starts. A Civil Society Dialogue with the authors of the report is organized by the Commission, which will take place on 30 May 2016 with the following Agenda:

1. Presentation of the Draft Interim Technical Report for the Trade SIA in support of TTIP.

2. Open discussion with stakeholders.

Sources:

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1498

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/civilsoc/meetdetails.cfm?meet=11476

http://www.trade-sia.com/ttip/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/02/TSIA-TTIP-draft-Interim-Technical-Report.pdf

http://www.ecorys.com/about/profile-and-history