{
  "id": "R44564",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R44564",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 454264,
      "date": "2016-07-14",
      "retrieved": "2016-09-09T19:11:32.782147",
      "title": "Agriculture and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) Negotiations",
      "summary": "The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) is a potential reciprocal free trade agreement being negotiated between the United States and the European Union (EU). Formal negotiations began in July 2013. Through the negotiations, both sides are seeking to liberalize transatlantic trade and investment, set globally relevant rules and disciplines that could boost economic growth, support multilateral trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization (WTO), and address third-country trade policy challenges. Agricultural issues have been an active topic of debate in the negotiations, given the potential market access gains for both sides and the potential to address a series of regulatory and intellectual property rights issues. \nThe United States is among the world\u2019s largest net exporters of agricultural products. The EU is an important export market for U.S. agricultural exports and ranks as the fifth largest market for U.S. food and farm exports. However, in recent years, growth in U.S. agricultural exports to the EU has not kept pace with growth in trade to other U.S. markets, and imports from Europe currently exceed U.S. exports to the EU. In 2015, U.S. exports of agricultural products to the EU totaled $12 billion, while EU exports of agricultural products to the United States totaled $20 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of nearly $8 billion for the United States and reversing the net trade surplus in U.S. agricultural exports to the EU during the 1990s. (These statistics include data for all current 28 EU member states, including the United Kingdom, which voted in June 2016 to leave the EU, a process that could take many years.)\nAddressing market access for U.S. agricultural exports to the EU is among the major goals of the T-TIP negotiation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that the EU\u2019s average agricultural tariff is 30%, well above the average U.S. agricultural tariff of 12%. Restrictive tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on agricultural products are also a concern for U.S. exporters. A USDA study reports that removing tariffs and TRQs could increase U.S. agricultural exports to the EU by an estimated $5.5 billion (compared to a 2011 base year). EU exports to the United States are estimated to rise by $0.8 billion. These totals cover all current 28 EU member states.\nHigh tariff barriers are further exacerbated by additional non-tariff barriers that may limit U.S. agricultural exports. Addressing non-tariff barriers is another major goal of the U.S. agricultural sectors in the negotiation, covering certain sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) concerns. These include delays in reviews of biotech products (limiting U.S. exports of grain and oilseed products), prohibitions on growth hormones in beef production and certain antimicrobial and pathogen reduction treatments (limiting U.S. meat and poultry exports), and burdensome and complex certification requirements (limiting U.S. exports of processed foods, animal products, and dairy products). As such, T-TIP negotiations on agricultural products are conditioned by a number of these long-standing, high-profile transatlantic trade disputes between the United States and EU. Other EU regulations of concern to U.S. exporters include lack of a science-based focus in establishing SPS measures, difficulty meeting food safety standards and obtaining product certification, lack of cohesive labeling requirements, and stringent testing requirements that are often applied inconsistently across EU member nations. USDA reports that removing select non-tariff barriers affecting meats, field crops, and fruits and vegetables could raise U.S. exports to the EU by an additional $4.1 billion over gains estimated from removing tariffs and TRQs (compared to a 2011 base year) across all current 28 EU member states.\nOther U.S. concerns involve the EU\u2019s use of geographical indications (GIs)\u2014certain protected product names that many U.S. food producers consider to be generic names. Further complicating negotiations regarding GIs are underlying regulatory and administrative differences between the United States and the EU in how each addresses GIs within their respective borders.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44564",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Agricultural Policy",
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Health Policy"
  ]
}