Leaked documents: Exposé on post-Brexit trade workings reveals US hopes to capitalize on lowered food safety standards

02 Dec 2019 --- In a series of leaked official documents released to the public on discussion website Reddit, collateral interests of the US government in Brexit negotiations are emerging from the woodwork. The documents comprise 451 pages of reports and transcripts of six bilateral meetings of the UK-US Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG), which span the course of three years. The exposé underscores advantages for the US in a no-deal Brexit scenario, which would pave the way for lucrative trade opportunities following the UK’s departure from the single market’s stringent food safety standards. These motives have been decried by British food and agriculture representatives.

“These leaked documents are concrete proof that the risks to our food, farmers and the environment from a future US trade deal, which we have been flagging for years, are clear and present danger,” Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of the UK agri-food body Sustain Food and Farming Alliance, states in response to the exposé.

“Here, we have in writing US trade negotiators saying that if we retain the high British food standards that we enjoy as members of the EU, this would be the ‘worst case scenario’ for them,” she further adds.

In October, FoodIngredientsFirst met with representatives of the US poultry sector on the showfloor of Anuga 2019, in Cologne, Germany. In this interview, a statement by the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council resonated with US interests in a post-Brexit trade deal, outlining that the UK’s departure from strict EU legislation regarding poultry would indeed present attractive trade opportunities for US exports.

“They appear desperate for us to loosen our food regulations so US food companies can send us products like chlorine-dipped chicken, hormone-treated beef and animal products raised with high levels of antibiotics. The documents show that US negotiators even offered to help ‘inform the media narrative’ on controversial chlorine – and chemical-washed chicken to the British public,” asserts Dalmeny. 

Imports of chorinated chicken from the US is among the list of post-Brexit trade concerns.The author of the Reddit post, writing under the username “gregoriator,” warns that “this publication will make some noise, so that’s why you probably don’t have much time to look through the internal secret documents that contain specific details of the upcoming FTA between the UK and the US.”

The fact that the British Parliament was suspended by Queen Elizabeth II for five weeks at the request of the Prime Minister right before the next deadline, makes this publication the last attempt to effectively counter the scenario of the UK leaving the EU without making a deal with Brussels, the Reddit user asserts.

“From now on, it is no longer a secret who is pushing the UK government to no-deal Brexit,” gregoriator contends. The user further elaborates, “The USTR was also clear that the UK-EU situation would be determinative. There would be all to play for in a no-deal situation, but UK commitment to the Customs Union and Single Market would make a UK-US free trade agreement (FTA) a non-starter.”

Slamming the exposed trade agenda, Dalmeny further outlines, “they specifically state they want to be ‘ambitious’ and remove as many regulatory barriers to trade in agricultural products as possible and vocally object to our hazard-based approach to pesticides.”

“The notes of the last meeting in 2018 between UK and US trade negotiators show that the topics of animal welfare and the overuse of antibiotics in US farm animals was not raised at all, despite agriculture being on the agenda and clear evidence that US farmers use five times more antibiotics per animal than British farmers do,” she decries.

“It is disgraceful that UK trade negotiators are actively discussing trading away our precious food and environmental standards, without checking with experts on standards, nor with the British public. The next government must urgently publish the UK’s negotiating objectives before any future talks with any country or trading bloc begin and ensure our representatives in parliament can vote on trade deals,” she concludes.

As highlighted by Sustain Food and Farming Alliance, lobbyists have been calling on the UK to drop its first attitude to safety and food standards in favor of US exporters.

The demands were made in responses to a consultation about the future US/UK trade deal, led by the USTR. They include the UK:

• Abandoning the precautionary principle for food standards.

• Accepting hormone-treated beef.

• Lifting the ban on ractopamine pork.

• Slashing subsidies to cattle farmers.

• Allowing new genetically-modified foods to be sold with minimal regulation.

• Scrapping mandatory labeling rules on GMOs.

• Getting rid of Britain’s safety-first approach to chemicals.

• Ditching EU laws that protect UK special food and drink products from “cheap copy-cats.”

• Ignoring the presence of hormones and pus in dairy products.

• Removing mandatory labeling for E-numbers and food coloring.

• Not introducing a ban on antibiotic-treated meat.

• Eliminating UK testing for parasitic worms in pork.

• Accepting chlorine-washed chicken.

• Legalizing dangerous pesticides.

Brexit’s winners and losers
The most notable step towards the signing of the agreement, highlighted in the exposé, will be the UK rejection of EU sanitary and phytosanitary standards, which would mean that chlorinated chicken from US farmers can reach Britain by Christmas. The tell-all divulges:

• “The US is very concerned at the contents of the Chequers statement (a UK Government white paper concerning Brexit). The US government was ‘deflated’ and sees UK harmonization with the EU The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) food safety regime as the ‘worst-case scenario’ for a UK-US FTA.”

• “On transparency and equivalence, the UK not remaining in the EU but subject to the EU rules will be more of an issue for the US than the UK just being in the EU, as the UK can no longer be a ‘back door’ for US products and no longer influence EU rules. If the US lodges a complaint against the UK under the terms of the FTA, the UK would not have the autonomy to address the said complaint under the Chequers proposal.”

British citizens will inevitably face a sharp decline in the quality of imported food products, stresses gregoriator. The US is strongly determined to expand markets, thus placing the UK in a “take it or leave it” position. He underscores:

• “In the case of the US-UK agreement on wine trade, the most challenging element was the discussion on traditional terms. The US wants to accept the UK’s continuity approach, even for a no-deal text. The US described the position, while referring to the issues with the EU, as ‘the disease spreading.’ This may require political escalation. The UK will send over the latest Wine Agreement text following this call,” states gregoriator.
  
  

Rallying for a UK-EU free trade agreementRepresentatives of EU industry have rallied for a UK-EU free trade deal post-Brexit.
The EU has adjunctly rallied for upheld trade relations with the UK, following Brexit. Representatives of the European agri-food chain including Copa-Cogeca, CELCAA and FoodDrinkEurope (FDE) have openly endorsed a Brexit deal that includes a FTA with zero tariffs and quantitative restrictions between the EU and the UK.

“Proximity is key for trade in limited shelf life products and for just-in-time supply chains. That is why more than two thirds of UK trade in food and drink is with the EU27. The continued ability to trade ingredients and finished goods without friction and costly regulatory barriers,is vital to our future success,” asserts the UK Food and Drink Federation (FDF).

“The EU market is by far the largest and most important to British food and drink manufacturers, for both imports and exports. In particular, food and drink ties between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are extremely tightly woven. Continued seamless trade is critical,” it concludes.

New checks and controls could be required on Welsh and Scottish borders because of diverging food safety standards post-Brexit, warns areport by the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO). Such changes are argued to have the potential to vastly “increase the devolution of food safety regulation” as Scottish and Welsh authorities are committing to retain EU regulations following the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc – creating the prospect of trade barriers between England and Scotland or Wales. The analysis also warns that a negotiated UK-US trade deal may further exacerbate tensions.

By Benjamin Ferrer

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