Ambassador Michael Punke Raises Concerns Over EU’s Internal and External Trade Barriers
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke reiterated various concerns about the European Union’s trade barriers, including high tariff protection and non-tariff barriers, in remarks to the World Trade Organization’s World Trade Policy Review of the EU on July 16. Despite the recent conclusion of the first round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Punke emphasized that several concerns still remain regarding EU trade and investment policies.
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Punke, who is the U.S. ambassador to the WTO, called the EU’s barriers to U.S. agricultural exports a significant concern in respect to high-tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. Such barriers include sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures that “are not based on science or risk assessment” and restrict the “importation and marketing of certain agricultural biotechnology products.” Punke also said that the EU’s regulatory and legislative processes do not typically provide “essential and meaningful opportunity” for other WTO members and their stakeholders to comment on regulatory proposals. There is also the concern about an “apparent lack of mechanisms” to ensure that stakeholders’ comments are taken into account in final regulations.
Additionally, Punke requested that the EU clarify its approach to “setting maximum residue limits for plant protection on products for which a registration is temporarily or permanently suspended on the basis of a specific hazard criterion.” He also emphasized longstanding concerns over anti-dumping duties imposed after the EU’s investigation into U.S. bioethanol exports. Punke also urged the EU to continue reforming the subsidization of their fishing fleet, as well as to improve the “inconsistent implementation of internal market rules” that have constrained trade for both EU and foreign producers.