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The White House announced a United States-European Union Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade.
The administration stated the Framework Agreement aims to resolve trade imbalances and maximize the U.S. and EU’s combined economic power in an ongoing process to improve market access and increase the U.S./EU trade and investment relationship.
National Pork Producers Council President Duane Stateler, a pork producer from McComb, Ohio, thanked the administration for including U.S. pork, saying “America’s pork producers are encouraged by the specific inclusion of pork in the U.S.-EU framework to address tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. We look forward to continued collaboration to address longstanding market access issues.”
For decades, pork trade between the U.S. and the EU has been weighted to favor EU interests. In 2024, the U.S. exported $7 million of pork products to the EU while importing over $709 million from the EU. To compare, the U.S. currently exports more pork to Honduras than to the 27 countries total that make up the EU.
U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom issued the following statement on the framework:
“USMEF is encouraged to see that the European Union will provide preferential market access for pork and bison meat, has committed to streamlining requirements for U.S. pork sanitary certificates, and intends to address other non-tariff barriers affecting agricultural trade – including its deforestation regulation.
These changes are long overdue, and USMEF greatly appreciates the Trump administration making agricultural market access a top priority in negotiations with the EU and with other key trading partners. The U.S. has been a net importer of red meat from the EU due to the vast barriers the EU imposes on imports, and addressing the EU’s tariff and non-tariff barriers is absolutely essential for U.S. export growth.
It is also critical that U.S. beef exports to the EU – which are already heavily restricted – face no further regulatory obstacles related to deforestation. With U.S. agriculture posing negligible risk to global deforestation, USMEF thanks the Trump administration for securing a commitment from the EU to address concerns of U.S. producers and exporters regarding the EU Deforestation Regulation.”
USMEF, NPPC news releases
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