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This article is taken from our IEG Policy platform dated 8
June.
US Democrats made known their trade policy priorities last
Wednesday (June 3) which include seeking new trade deals,
re-evaluating the US withdrawal from the multilateral Pacific Rim
trade agreement and promoting constructive reform efforts at the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat on the House Ways and Means
committee, laid out the priorities at a discussion hosted by the
Washington International Trade Association (WITA) where he also
said that securing new trade agreements with the European Union
(EU) and United Kingdom were high on the agenda of lawmakers and
the Trump administration.
On Tuesday (June 2), renowned primatologist and ethologist, Dr
Jane Goodall, called for changes in the way the world treats
animals, with a shift away from consumption of animal to
plant-based products as a way to stave off future epidemics and
halt further climate change.
Goodall told an EU-wide audience of nearly 1,300 participants at
the webinar 'Pandemics, wildlife and intensive animal farming,'
organised by Compassion in World Farming: "All animals matter,
every animal is an individual just as every human being is an
individual and all are deserving of our compassion, respect and
care. They have personalities, minds and feelings and they feel
pain.
"However, destroying nature and exploiting animals in intensive
factory farms shows complete disregard towards life. This has
consequences for us all, as we have clearly seen in the COVID-19
pandemic."
Meat consumption trends
A new report out last week stated that more than 40% of
Europeans said they were reducing red meat consumption, but a chunk
of the remaining consumers were still unwilling to eat less.
The European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, conducted a survey on
European attitudes towards sustainable food and found that over 40%
of consumers have either stopped, or cut down on, eating red meat
due to environmental concerns.
In recent years, red meat, particularly beef, has come under
increased scrutiny for its impacts on the environment, from
greenhouse gas emissions to water pollution and deforestation.
On Wednesday (June 3), the European Commission announced plans
to establish a "Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism" (CBAM) to avoid
unsustainable production being transferred to third countries - but
it would likely exempt agri-food products from a carbon border
tax.
Sabine Weyand, the Commission's top civil servant for trade
policy, said that agri-food products will most likely remain
unaffected by the EU CBAM proposal.
Her comments will irk European farming groups and
environmentalist who have campaigned for harsher treatment on
imports from third countries. Agriculture associations say these
imports create unfair advantage against European producers who
follow higher standards while green groups think they incentivise
destructive practices like deforestation in the Amazon.
In a jolt to trade, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the
EU and the Mercosur trade bloc was voted down by the Dutch
parliament on June 3rd.
Finally, in Spain, the government passed a law to ensure it had
enough
temporary farm workers in light of the COVID-19 related
restrictions on international worker mobility.
