An ad hoc coalition of 40 food and agricultural groups led by the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has expressed concerns to the Obama administration and Congress that a proposed free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union (EU) might miss the mark of U.S. objectives for trade agreements.

Some non-agricultural members of the business community suggest that such negotiations between the two trading giants should not be pursued as a single undertaking with success in one area dependent on success in all the others.

However, NPPC and the agricultural community believe that approaches other than a single undertaking would assure the perpetuation of EU trade barriers to many U.S. products and sectors, including agriculture.

The coalition letter makes it clear that the removal of unjustifiable EU sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions on U.S. food and agricultural products would have to be an integral part of the overall goal of improving the bilateral U.S.-EU relationship.

The letter also points out that keeping agriculture as part of trade agreements is a way for governments around the world to help keep the price of food affordable.

To read the letter, click here: http://www.nppc.org/wp-content/uploads/EU-Trade-Letter.pdf.