by Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro
The EU could lose access to key agricultural imports from the US if its deforestation law is implemented without changes, senior US officials warned on Friday, arguing the rules could discourage American producers from supplying the bloc.
Brussels was the final stop on a five-city tour across EU capitals this week – including Madrid, Rome, Paris, and Berlin – aimed at raising Washington concerns ahead of a European Commission review of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), expected in April.
The EUDR requires importers of seven commodities – coffee, cocoa, palm oil, cattle, soy, timber and rubber – and some derived products, to prove that their supply chains are not linked to deforestation. Importers must also provide plot-level geolocation data.
A senior US Department of Agriculture (USDA) official, speaking to reporters in Brussels on Friday, said the rules would impose heavy compliance burdens on US exports – including soybeans, which are crucial for animal feed.
The USDA official added the regulation would require costly traceability and segregation systems, making the EU less attractive for US exporters. American farmers are also reluctant to share sensitive data with foreign authorities.
European livestock producers rely heavily on imported soybean feed because the bloc does not produce enough protein crops domestically, the official said, meaning disruptions to US supply could have knock-on effects for European farmers.
“Where’s the European men going to get their protein feed?” the official added. Washington estimates the rules could affect roughly €7.8 billion in annual US exports to the EU.
Proposed fixes
As first reported by Euractiv, Washington is proposing several changes as part of the Commission review. One idea is to introduce a “negligible risk” category for the US with “dramatically simplified documentation”, the USDA official said.
Under EUDR, countries are classified as low, standard, and high risk of deforestation, with the US falling under the low-risk category, which already eases compliance requirements.
The US also wants the EU to revise the rule that excludes countries from “low-risk” status if deforestation exceeds 70,000 hectares annually, arguing that the absolute threshold disadvantages large countries.
“In any year, we could have a bad forest fire out west. It could wipe out acres and acres of trees, and it’s not deforestation,” the US representative added.
Environmental and human rights groups have pushed back on the US argument. Human Rights Watch researcher Luciana Tellez Chavez said the US recorded an annual net forest loss of about 120,000 hectares between 2015 and 2025, according to the latest Food and Agriculture Organisation forest report.
“There is no factual basis to extend preferential treatment to US producers,” Chavez added. “The risk of deforestation is increasing in the US, not decreasing, and it’s not negligible.”
“Misleading and self-serving foreign pressure on the EU should not distract policy-makers from staying focused on facts,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, manager for forests at World Wide Fund for Nature.
The US official said discussions with EU countries suggested governments recognise the concerns.
Washington says its focus is on influencing the upcoming Commission review before the regulation takes effect later this year. But officials signalled the US could consider further responses if concerns are not addressed.
“This is a big problem for us,” the official said. “We’ll be looking at all our options.”
*Published first on Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer