Brexit: US Says End EU Food Standards

Britain may be forced to scrap EU food standards on genetically modified crops and chlorine-washed chicken according to one of Donald Trump’s most senior Cabinet secretaries.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has called for the UK to fall in line with US regulatory and safety standards after Brexit in order to boost trade between the two nations.

Britain’s potential future trading relationship with the US is already proving to be controversial. There is a high profile disagreement – particularly within Theresa May’s Cabinet – over whether to allow imports of US chlorine-washed chicken, which is banned on health grounds in the European bloc.

Chlorine is used to clean the chicken eaten in the US and Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, has suggested that Britain’s ban on such chicken could be lifted to help secure the quick trade deal that May’s Cabinet is desperate to reach after Brexit.  Fox has accused the media of being “obsessed” with the question of chlorine-washed chickens.

He has refused a challenge from James McGrory, the executive director of the pro-EU campaign group Open Britain, to eat some of the chicken and broadcast his reaction live on TV.

“The proof of the chicken is in the eating and if Mr Fox thinks it’s safe, he should out his money where his mouth is,”  McGrory said. “If he doesn’t he is just chicken.”

Strongly Held Views

Fox (left) told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Government would not allow food standards to be lowered after leaving the EU.

Fox said he was “open minded” about chlorinated chicken but the UK would not see “reductions in our standards as we move forward, partly because British consumers wouldn’t stand for it.”

Fox said the UK was entering an era “where I think people will take a much bigger interest in trade agreements than they might have done in the past. On environmental standards, quality and safety, they will have very strong views.”

The US Commerce Secretary told a business conference in London that the relationship between the US and UK “has never been stronger.”

“We want more trade and more investment” he said. “ We want to be your number one trading partner worldwide.” He added that Trump places an “especially great deal of emphasis” on striking a trade deal after Brexit.

But the billionaire former businessman stressed that any trade agreement would have to be “free, fair, and reciprocal” and repeatedly attacked “regulatory divergence” between the US and the EU.  Britain must “reduce unnecessary divergence in regulation and standards” to boost trade, he said, listing grievances he had heard from US businesses that trade with the EU.

“Rely On Science”

They included “the limited use of science in assessing risk” of chemical processes in farming; “burdensome and unnecessary” EU labelling requirements for chemicals and “geographic indicators on food products”. Ross said the UK should allow car manufacturers to self-certify that vehicles meet safety standards.

Trump has repeatedly said that a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain is one of his top priorities. But there are fears that Britain may not get a good deal with MPs pointing to punitive tariffs imposed by the US last month on the Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier, which have threatened jobs in Northern Ireland.

“The one thing I can assure you is that that particular case, like all the others, will be handled in a fair, transparent, professional, and even-handed way,” Ross said. “We understand the political sensitivity both here and in Canada. But the fundamentals remain: even our best friends really have to play by the rules. We intend to and we intend that you will do so.”

by Bob Graham

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