The EU-US tariff framework agreement
Credit: Studio Romantic, stock.adobe.com
Last week, the European Dairy Association took note of the publication of the legal texts of the new EU-US Framework Agreement, which came into force at the beginning of August. “For our sector, stability in transatlantic trade is a welcome outcome,” it observed. It did note that there are more options for US goods coming over now: “The creation of 20,000 tonnes of tariff-free tariff-rate quotas for US dairy products is more than a symbolic gesture. It represents a significant commitment of new market access beyond existing WTO quotas, reserved exclusively for US origin.”
However, this may cause issue with other trading partners wanting the same option, as well as increasing some of the EU product tariffs that were lower in the past. That being said, the trade currently runs fast towards the US from the EU (around €3 billion), while the reverse trade of US dairy products to the EU is about one-eighteenth of that (€167 million), as my maths skills work out and as the US Dairy Export Council also notes, in the article coming up in the October issue of Dairy Industries International.
This is also our big show issue, which will highlight all the exhibitors and speakers at the two-day Dairy Industries Expo. It promises to be a very interesting three days in total, as the Society of Dairy Technology is also holding its Autumn Symposium the day before. Please come along and bring your cheese to be cut, as there will be options from our exhibitors who are there to help you make the most of your production processes – from cleaning to packaging, and everything in between.
I myself am ridiculously excited about the seminars. We have Tetra Pak and The Carbon Trust, Wrap and the head of Dairy UK. It will save me a lot of travel, having all these people together in one place. It will give you something to think about and to act on, in these ever-changing times. Don’t miss out!
- Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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