Trump tells May to abandon 'unwarranted' food standards for Brexit trade deal

[Soph0571]

Donald Trump's administration has called on the UK to abandon its "unwarranted" food and agriculture standards before it can sign a free trade deal with the US after Brexit.

The US Trade Representative on Thursday published its "negotiating objectives" for a future trade deal with the UK once it has left the EU.

The document states that the UK must "remove expeditiously unwarranted barriers that block the export of U.S. food and agricultural products."
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In the US, producers adhere to a "Defect Levels Handbook," which sets out the maximum number of foreign bodies like maggots, insect fragments and mould that can be in food products before they are put on the market.

For example, US producers are allowed to include up to 30 insect fragments in a 100-gram jar of peanut butter; as well as 11 rodent hairs in a 25-gram container of paprika; or 3 milligrams of mammalian excreta (typically rat or mouse excrement) per each pound of ginger.

[link:https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tells-may-to-abandon-food-standards-for-brexit-trade-deal-2019-3?r=US&IR=T|

Yum....

[walkingman]

1. Trade with America at any cost including rat shit in your food.

[Doodley]

2. Sometimes I am disgusted by American standards, as well as Trump.

[Eugene]

3. UK-US trade deal: Envoy attacks 'myths' about US farming

Source: BBC

UK-US trade deal: Envoy attacks 'myths' about US farming

2 March 2019

Fears over chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef are "myths", according to the US ambassador to the UK.

Writing in the Telegraph, Woody Johnson urged the UK to embrace US farming methods after Washington published its objectives for a UK-US trade deal.

EU rules currently limit US exports of certain food products, including chicken and beef - but Mr Johnson wants that to change in the UK after Brexit.

Downing Street has repeatedly denied it will accept lower food standards.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: "We have always been very clear that we will not lower our food standards as part of a future trading agreement."

Mr Johnson, however, described warnings over US farming practices as "inflammatory and misleading" smears from "people with their own protectionist agenda".

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47426138

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Related: Europe is a museum – we are the future of farming, says US ambassador (The Telegraph)

[Borderer]

4. Self awareness fail...

"Mr Johnson, however, described warnings over US farming practices as "inflammatory and misleading" smears from "people with their own protectionist agenda"."

As opposed to the orange menace's plan to declare imported cars a national security threat?

Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of chlorinated chicken this issue highlights the dishonesty of the Brexiteers who claimed we could have our cake and eat it, by trading freely with both the EU and also everyone else. Do we accept US meat in order to get a trade deal and thus risk having our own meat exports to Europe curtailed, or do we refuse and not get a better trade deal with the US?

Downing Street's position that the UK will not be lowering its food standards has nothing to do with food safety or animal welfare and everything to do with not being able to risk trade barriers with the EU. There are plenty of Conservative MPs ready to shill for agribusiness who would happily abolish our "red tape" on such matters...

[Denzil_DC]

5. Welcome to DU. Another person lucky enough to live in Scotland here.

Chlorination of chicken as opposed to proper animal husbandry is one issue, and I'm sure an industry shill like Johnson will have been well briefed to cloud the issues as much as possible. There are a whole host of others, like the use of antibiotics as growth promoters, the degradation of "organic" standards in the US versus the UK where it does actually mean something, etc. That's before we get into the economics of the scant and grudging support our own agricultural industries are likely to see after Brexit when faced with even more competition from abroad. That's assuming they even survive the transition, of course.

And what's Johnson's expertise in this area? He's an investment banker with a shady past in tax dodging (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Johnson#Private_ventures_and_legal_problems ).

What you describe is exactly the dilemma the UK will face in trying to accommodate other trading blocs' requirements from a position of relative weakness and isolation. Food standards are just one aspect, others include quid pro quo visas for the movement of people. I don't have a problem with immigration. But Theresa May famously does, and so, we're vehemently assured, do many of those who voted for Brexit. And yet she's insistent on pressing on.

In the words of Johnny Rotten, "Ever feel like you've been cheated?"

[T_i_B]

6. The main thing Woody Johnson is known for is owning the New York Jets

The Jets appear to be known for being perennially rubbish and he does not appear to have a reputation as one of the better owners of NFL robot rugby league franchises

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1450255-woody-johnson-is-the-worst-owner-in-the-entire-nfl
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jan/20/woody-johnson-uk-ambassador-jets-owner