Gli Stati Uniti accusano l’UE di perseguire il “monopolio” del formaggio in Sud America

Donald Trump’s trade officials have accused Brussels of attempting to secure a “monopoly” for its meats and cheeses in South America as part of its blockbuster trade deal with Mercosur countries.

The EU and four South American countries will on Saturday sign a trade agreement, after negotiating for 25 years, which would cut almost all tariffs across a combined market of 700mn people.

But US officials have hit out at the deal for harming American farmers, barring them from selling produce that is tied to particular places in European countries, such as prosciutto di Parma, feta cheese and champagne.

“This is a blatant attempt to limit competition and export opportunities for non-EU suppliers to fairly trade in this large dairy and processed meat market,” said one US official familiar with the negotiations.

“The deal would basically give EU producers a monopoly for these products and would lock out producers from the US.”

The objections come as transatlantic trade tensions escalate between Washington and Brussels over the bloc’s slow pace in cutting tariffs and regulations following a limited trade deal agreed last year. 

The Trump administration’s concern for its agricultural exports follows a $12bn bailout to US farmers last year after the sector was battered by the US president’s trade war.

The official said the US had repeatedly raised its concerns with countries including Brazil and the EU, which would secure protection for more than 340 named foods, as part of trade negotiations.

A trade negotiator for a Mercosur nation said that “geographical indication” for certain products was a long-running gripe for the Americans, but insisted they had not been contacted about the issue recently.

The complaints about the deal between the EU and Mercosur come as Washington makes an aggressive push to secure geopolitical influence across the western hemisphere as part of its so-called Donroe Doctrine. 

In recent weeks Trump has launched a military operation to seize Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro, and warned that Cuba, Colombia and Mexico could all be next in America’s crosshairs.

A majority of European member states backed the terms of the deal last week, despite widespread opposition from farmers, who claim that their counterparts in Mercosur operate with lower standards for animal treatment and pesticide use.

The deal represents a new push by the EU to secure lucrative trade agreements aimed at countering Trump’s aggressive protectionism and tariffs.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen made a veiled rebuke to Trump when EU member states approved it last week. 

“At a time when trade and dependencies are being weaponised and the dangerous, transactional nature of the reality we live in becomes increasingly stark, this historic trade deal is further proof that Europe charts its own course and stands as a reliable partner,” she said.

She also shrugged off any idea the EU should stay out of the western hemisphere, adding it was “testament to the endurance and strength of our relationship with Latin America, and one that will bring us closer together”. 

The Commission declined to comment. The US trade representative’s office declined to comment. Brazil’s trade ministry declined to comment.

First you get the ~~sugar~~ cheese then you get the power then you get the women.

EU’s historic deal with Mercosur and Canada resetting ties with China recently. Trump really thought his dumb doctrine will push the western hemisphere towards him. He is just isolating the world against America.

Just make up your own American cheese and wine names and stop stealing regions’ long established branding!

If some Italian food company started claiming Pringles was a generic type of snack they’d be declaring trade wars.

I’m sure Apple would be delighted if someone in china started claiming iPhone was just a generic term for a smart phone like Champagne is just a generic term for sparkling wine.

I’m just so sick of the US.

Just make better cheese and stop whining

Yes well I suppose you shouldn’t be calling your products by the local European names they’re trying to emulate then, no?

bring your cheese please

Regional specialty products that have existed for centuries and which are therefor protected, should not be copied. The AOC certification is about protecting tradition, craftmanship and origin. Too bad for the American farmers, but this protection is applied worldwide and not just to ‘harm’ US famers.

Maga hates the EU because it is the embodiment of everything they cannot be. Collaborative, rules based and classy. I would much rather eat French brie than the disgusting slop Americans produce. Cheese does not come in a spray can.

*Laught while eating Camembert *

I think the americans have grander things to focus on than their shitty cheese, what with their murdering citizens for not committing crimes

Don’t provoke French!

US accuses [insert issue of the week] because of [reason].

Fairly incredible for the US to complain about trade deals

So South America wants good cheese, not plastic garbage?

The US aren’t even in the cheese business.

They’re milking it.

Unless you’re making a burger, why the hell would you want to buy American cheese?

Eher traurig dass die Amis andere zwingen müssen dass sie ihre schlechteren Sachen unter einem geschützten Namen verkaufen wollen um damit einen Vorteil zu ergaunern, weil sie wissen dass sie sonst keiner kaufen würde….

Da könnte ma meinen dass ein Staat der so auf Markenschutz setzt systematisch selbst porduktpiraterie betreibt … :O

Edit: ein fehler

Europe has better cheeses. Gouda from Netherlands is like crack, I can’t get enough of it.