- We seek to eliminate all tariffs and other duties and charges on trade in agricultural, industrial and consumer products between the United States and the EU, with substantial duty elimination on entry into force of the agreement, transition periods where necessary for sensitive products, and appropriate safeguard mechanisms to be applied if and where necessary.
The United States ships more than $730 million in goods to the EU every day. In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, even small increases in a product’s cost due to tariffs can mean the difference between winning and losing a contract.
The U.S. manufacturing base is growing, and we make some of the world’s most advanced industrial goods. We exported more than $253 billion worth of industrial products to the EU in 2012. With elimination of EU tariffs on industrial products, including innovative and high technology products such as industrial and electrical machinery, precision and scientific instruments, and chemicals and plastics, U.S. products will be put on equal footing with goods from the EU’s other free trade agreement partners – including Chile, Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa – which receive duty-free treatment when shipped to the EU, as well as with exports from one EU Member State to another.
The United States is the world’s largest agricultural export economy. U.S. farmers and ranchers increasingly rely on agricultural exports for their livelihoods, 20 percent of farm income comes from exports, and those exports support our rural communities. In fact, U.S. food and agricultural exports to the world reached an all-time high in 2013 of over $145 billion. In that year, we sent just over $10 billion of agricultural exports to the EU, a figure that can and should be much higher. Our goal in T-TIP is to help U.S. agricultural sales reach their full potential by eliminating tariffs and quotas that stand in the way of exports.
Eliminating tariffs would provide a level playing field for our agricultural producers, including for our apple growers who pay more than seven percent in duties when shipping to the EU, but whose EU competitors pay no duties on their shipments of apples to the United States. U.S. olive oil producers would also benefit from tariff elimination, since U.S. olive oil is subject to $1,680 in duties per ton on shipments to the EU, but their EU competitors pay only $34 per ton on shipments to the United States. Eliminating tariffs and quotas will help U.S. farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, workers, and their families, while giving Europeans access to safe, high-quality American food and agricultural goods.
For more information on industrial and manufacturing trade, visit www.ustr.gov/issue-areas/industry-manufacturing. For more information on agricultural trade, visit www.ustr.gov/issue-areas/agriculture.
