The eleventh round of negotiations are set to take place in Miami, Florida from October 19-23, with the two sides set to exchange offers on market access. Some 97% of tariff lines are included in the offer with the other 3% including very sensitive agriculture sectors.
The USA is the main purchaser for EU agri-food products worth 15 billion euros and in any trade deal Copa want the elimination of non-tariff barriers to trade as part of the SPS negotiations.
On dairy specifically, issues include limited progress on getting recognition for the EU system of geographical indications (GIs), and Copa Milk Chairman Mansel Raymondwarned of the severe impact of the recent move by Washington to increase duties on EU butter and cream exports. There are also big obstacles for EU dairy processors when trying to market Grade A milk products in the US - EU cheeses are denied access to the US market because the label fails to use hairline, bars and bold type in an appropriate format.
Hard cheeses, semi-soft cheeses and soft ripened cheeses have to wait 60 days before circulating on the US market with the main issue being testing methods that are not the same on both sides of the Atlantic.