Grassley Hopes UK FTA Accepts GMOs, Jettisons GI Rules
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, hopes that a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom -- for which negotiations started May 5 -- would be more favorable to American agriculture than European Union policies have been. Grassley, who was speaking to reporters on a conference call May 5, said the EU restrictions that irritate him the most are on the use of feed additives for cattle, geographical indications, and “that we can’t get [genetically modified organisms] into Europe.”
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He expressed hope that the U.K. would be less wedded to rules on cheese names than Italy and other southern European countries have been. However, the U.K. government says Stilton cheese, for instance, is a GI brand, and says it intends to continue protecting GIs after Brexit.
Grassley thinks if the U.K. agrees to an FTA that is more favorable to American agriculture, that would embarrass Europe into being more receptive. “It may be naive for me to believe that’s possible,” he said, given how little indication he's gotten of that openness when he talks agricultural trade with European politicians who visit him. However, he said he still wants advances in agriculture in any FTA with Europe. “I believe you’d find [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer being of the same frame of mind,” he said.