Saving Seafood

Joint Statement of the United States and the European Union on a Tariff Agreement

August 21, 2020 — The following was released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative:

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan today announced agreement on a package of tariff reductions that will increase market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and EU exports.  These tariff reductions are the first U.S.-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades.

Under the agreement, the EU will eliminate tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products.  U.S. exports of these products to the EU were over $111 million in 2017.  The EU will eliminate these tariffs on a Most Favored Nation (MFN) basis, retroactive to begin August 1, 2020.  The EU tariffs will be eliminated for a period of five years and the European Commission will promptly initiate procedures aimed at making the tariff changes permanent.  The United States will reduce by 50% its tariff rates on certain products exported by the EU worth an average annual trade value of $160 million, including certain prepared meals, certain crystal glassware, surface preparations, propellant powders, cigarette lighters and lighter parts.  The U.S. tariff reductions will also be made on an MFN basis and retroactive to begin August 1, 2020.

“As part of improving EU-US relations, this mutually beneficial agreement will bring positive results to the economies of both the United States and the European Union.  We intend for this package of tariff reductions to mark just the beginning of a process that will lead to additional agreements that create more free, fair, and reciprocal transatlantic trade,” said Ambassador Lighthizer and Commissioner Hogan.

Timeline on Negotiations:

In 2019, at the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States completed formal procedures necessary to launch negotiations on a trade agreement, as did the European Commission.

In September 2018, as required by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, Ambassador Lighthizer consulted with members of Congress on the Trump Administration’s interest in launching trade negotiations with the EU.  On October 16, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative officially notified Congress that President Trump intended to launch trade negotiations with the EU.  On January 11, 2019, following consultations with Congress and public comment period from U.S. stakeholders, the Trump Administration issued formal U.S. negotiating objectives for the EU.

The agreement being announced today arose out of continuing engagement with the EU on these issues.

EU drops tariffs on US lobster

August 21, 2020 — The European Union will immediately eliminate its tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products, according to an announcement from the United States Trade Representative’s office.

An agreement struck between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan on Friday, 21 August will result in the E.U. eliminating the lobster tariffs on a Most-Favored Nation basis, retroactive to 1 August, 2020. In return, the United States will reduce by 50 percent its tariffs on a variety of products including prepared meals, glassware, propellant powders, cigarette lighters, and other products collectively valued at around USD 160 million (EUR 135.7 million). The U.S. tariff reductions will also be made on a Most-Favored Nation basis and are retroactive to 1 August.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Seafood could be casualty in escalating US trade spat with EU

July 31, 2020 — US companies importing seafood into the United States from the European Union (EU) or United Kingdom may have to contend with an up to 100-percent tariff increase as part of a decades-long US World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over subsidies given to Netherlands-based Airbus.

On July 26 the US Trade Representative (USTR) accepted its final comments for a proposal that $3.1 billion (€2.6 billion) worth of products, including seafood, be slapped with tariffs of up to 100 percent. The United Kingdom is also included as part of that list.

The USTR is set to make a decision on the tariffs in August.

The seafood products, which have been considered for previous tariff action but have avoided US tariffs so far, are from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Proposed US tariffs on EU seafood products nearing end of consultation period

July 28, 2020 — A bevy of seafood products from the European Union could be the target of new tariffs by the United States, stemming from a dispute over European subsidies for Airbus.

Starting in October, several mainly premium goods from the E.U. – such as Scotch whisky, cashmere, cheeses, and others – have carried a 25 percent tariff, with salmon and other seafood products barely avoiding a tariff in the trade spat. The tariffs stem from U.S. criticisms of what it calls over-subsidization of Airbus by European governments, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) allowing the U.S. to take USD 7.5 billion (EUR 6.3 billion) in retaliatory tariffs, BBC news reported.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

EU Negotiator Cites ‘Objective Risk’ of No Post-Brexit Deal

July 24, 2020 — British and European Union negotiators failed to agree on underlying principles in the latest round of talks on post-Brexit trade between the bloc and its one-time member, again raising concerns about far-reaching economic damage if no deal is reached by the end of the year.

In comments delivered after the talks ended Thursday, chief U.K. negotiator David Frost said it was clear the two sides wouldn’t meet their goal of reaching an understanding on “the principles underlying any agreement” this month.

“By its current refusal to commit to conditions of open and fair competition and to a balanced agreement on fisheries, the U.K. makes a trade agreement, at this point, unlikely,″ Barnier said at a press conference in London.

Britain is seeking a free-trade pact similar to one the EU recently negotiated with Canada. The EU wants to ensure both sides have similar rules on a wide range of issues, including workers’ rights, the environment and government subsidies, before it is willing to discuss such an agreement.

Britain also wants to regain control of fishing in its territorial waters, which have been governed by EU rules for more than 40 years. Foreign boats account for about 60% of the fish caught in U.K. waters.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times

U.K. Says EU Fishing Deal May Not Be Finalized Until December

July 9, 2020 — A fisheries agreement between the U.K. and European Union may not be finalized until December, five months later than scheduled, Environment Secretary George Eustice said.

The subject has become a sticking point in negotiations over the future relationship between the two sides. Britain wants to restrict EU vessels’ right to fish in British waters, making it conditional on annual negotiations, while the EU has made continued access a precondition of any wider trade deal. They had originally aimed to agree on terms by the start of July.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Disputes with NGOs over science overshadow EU achievements on reducing overfishing

June 12, 2020 — The world is unlikely to meet a United Nations sustainable development goal on ending overfishing, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization’s recent report on the state of the world fisheries.

But the U.N.’s blunt admission that the world’s failing to meet SDG Target 14.4 – to end overfishing of marine fisheries by 2020 – has not prevented the European Union from declaring a victory of sorts in ending overfishing in its own territories.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

EU Commissioner: EUR 500 million seafood support top-up will aid sector’s recovery

June 3, 2020 — The additional EUR 500 million (USD 560.3 million) – added to the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) last week – will strengthen the recovery and resilience of the E.U.’s fisheries sector as the region’s economy slowly reopens, according to European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius.

The additional funding, which is part of the Commission’s Recovery Package, represents an increase of more than 8 percent compared to the budget initially proposed for the EMFF in 2018.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

UK’s chief Brexit negotiator admits fishing deal is unlikely by July deadline

May 28, 2020 — Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator said it was unlikely that Britain and the EU would finalise a fisheries agreement by a July deadline on Wednesday, as Michel Barnier offered UK opposition parties an extension of up to two years on the transition period.

“I am beginning to think we might not make it by the 30th of June,” David Frost told MPs on parliament’s Brexit scrutiny committee the week before the next round of negotiations with the EU.

“We don’t regard fisheries as something that can be traded for any other bits of the negotiation. There is something very important happening at the end of the year which is that we get back control of our own waters,” he said

“Any agreements have simply got to accommodate that reality,” Boris Johnson’s top Brexit official said, as he described the divisions over the issue between the two sides.

Read the full story from The Telegraph at Yahoo Finance

EU ready to ease fisheries demands in Brexit talks: sources

May 27, 2020 — The EU is willing to shift its stance on fisheries in negotiations with Britain next week, sources said, in what would be the first major concession from the bloc in talks on their new relationship after Brexit.

Fishing is particularly politically sensitive for France, and the 27-nation bloc says it would not seal a new trade deal with Britain without a stable agreement on that issue.

Currently, fishing mostly takes place in UK waters but most of the catch goes to European Union fishermen.

Britain wants to unwind that after Brexit materialises at the start of next year, saying that, as a newly independent coastal state, it wants to be in control of its waters and fish.

But the EU has so far sought to maintain the status quo, a demand an official with the bloc suggested was a primarily starting point for negotiations.

Read the full story at Reuters