The fact is, agricultural production in every one of the European nations is much more regulated and subsidized in regards to production and code enforcements than it is even in the territory once known as “the United States of America”. Compared to the European Union, the costs of production are much lower here, and without some kind of quota or tariff, would soon swamp the domestic European producers and destroy the base, leaving those countries much more dependent on the good graces of the Current Regime or any of their successors to have their food supply demands filled.
Europeans as a whole have not forgotten the privations that were their lot during and after WW II, and they never want to be dependent on foreign sources of food or fiber. This kind of agricultural protectionism goes back to the days of the Old Testament, in which the granaries were filled during the “fat years”, to protect against the depredations of the “lean years”.
Which simply goes to show that this isn't about "free trade" at all now doesn't it?
Exactly your post #3
I will add....Europeans also felt this way after WW I . In fact, once European Ag production improved in the ‘20s...they put tariffs on Ag products from the Americas. These tariffs were partly instrumental in the Great Depression...and led the US to counter w Smoot-Hawley Tariff