The US will 'push off' a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK until its food standards demands are met

business insider ^ | 18 June 2020 | Adam Payne

[Cronos]

• The US will not sign a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK unless its food standards demands are met.
• That's according to Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who on Monday said agriculture was a "fundamental" issue for the US in talks with the UK.
• Boris Johnson is under immense pressure to protect UK farmers from US meat and food imports.
• However, Lighthizer warned: 'We are not going to be in a position where our farmers are treated unfairly.'
• Lighthizer also said completing a trade agreement this year would be 'nearly impossible.'

"I read their [the UK] press, as I know you do, and the agriculture issues are heating up over there as are a lot of other issues that the United States Congress would not accept in a trade deal," he said on Monday.

"And if they insist on those, then we will just have to push this off until they don't.

"My hope is they'll see the overall benefit to their economy, their workers, and their farmers, in the same way that we do and we can move forward.

"I haven't got to the point where I'd say this issue is gonna blow things up but we all know we have certain defensive interests and certain offensive interests.

[Cronos]

trade deals take time - this will happen eventually, but it's not going to be overnight

[mewzilla]

I use/consume UK products every day.

I look forward to a deal!

That said, there's a reason I can't donate blood and it's not American beef.

[Cronos]

as I pointed out last year (2019), a trade deal will take time — a lot of time.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Keeping the Island food self sufficient is important.

[PGalt]

From the article...

The US practice of washing chicken in chlorine has become totemic of this issue, with UK farming groups warning that this process, banned in the European Union, masks inadequacies in how US meat is produced before being sold.

Very interesting. I did not know that. Thanks for posting, Cronos.

Best practices, highest standards BUMP! What about chickens from CHYna...speaking of standards? /S

[CharleysPride]

Chlorinated chicken will turn the hardest of stomachs.

[PGalt]

Health/Life BUMP!

[Gen.Blather]

“The US practice of washing chicken in chlorine has become totemic of this issue, with UK farming groups warning that this process, banned in the European Union, masks inadequacies in how US meat is produced before being sold.”

One of the backbones of fascism and liberalism is food “purity.” (Think “organic” writ large.) My impression of EU standards is they looked at processes in the US and wherever they differed from the EU they banned them. Washing food in chlorine was adopted because it ensured uniform treatment and disinfection across the millions of chickens processed daily. Just one company I researched for my MBA was processing 12 million chickens per day 360 days per year. That’s why chicken is dirt cheap in the US. The EU wanted to protect their internal suppliers who, presumably offer chickens a humane free range environment up until they kill them. The difference in price between “organic” farming and US style farming is huge. So, you know which would go out of business if not protected.

[Cronos]

Which British products?

[mad_as_he$$]

Marmite? Ban it from the planet. Nasty stuff.

[mewzilla]

Not just British, Irish and Scots, too. Foodstuffs, whisky, home goods, meds, textiles, yarn, books and other media...

Long list, now that I think about it.

A deal that’s advantageous to both the US and the UK would awesome!

[Adder]

Hmmm

We did not find any real disparities between Italian and American chicken prices.

Nor in beef...if anything beef was cheaper there than here.

[PGalt]

Thanks. Lots to consider in this one. Having had some major health issues (for the 1st time in my life recently) I’m interested in the personal health issue...although I’m not a Kevin...I do not wear a facemask. I’m not the boy in the bubble and freedom is my favorite concept and reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQcvuftqXFY

[PGalt]

Thanks. One thing leads to another...

https://www.ibtimes.com/whats-really-marmite-and-why-it-banned-644308

[Cronos]

More or less self-sufficient. The thing is that US farms are highly, highly cost-efficient compared to British farms. The British farms cannot compete on economies of scale

[Cronos]

This piece “about chlorinated chickens” has been a reason curtailing American poultry exports since the 90s.

The reason given - and as I’m not in the poultry industry have no way to verify (there seem to be views for and against it even in scientific forums) - that chlorination “masks” factory farming. Other sources say it doesn’t.

either way, whether it is true or not, it protects British farmers

[Cronos]

it took me two years to be able to stand it. I can’t say I love it, but I don’t loathe it any more

[Cronos]

Scots are Brits :)

But what homegoods and textiles you find from the UK? Besides Savile Row I can't think of any of those stuff still made in the UK - so I'd be interested to know what else is out there

[Alas Babylon!]

I can’t speak for you but I lived in Europe (Italy and Germany) from 1991-97.

I was military but lived on the economy.

The US prices at the commissary for meat was half the Italian and 1/3rd of the German prices. Since I worked on base but lived off base, going to the commissary on the way home to get meats—in the Summer—was my thing. Then I would barbeque and invite my neighbors over for some good, AMERICAN meat. They loved it!

Beers, vino, all good times...

[Pikachu_Dad]

There is far more than low price to feeding ones people !

When U-boats suddenly appear and start sinking your grain shipments, then your people starve !

More or less self-sufficient. The thing is that US farms are highly, highly cost-efficient compared to British farms. The British farms cannot compete on economies of scale