A Guardian columnist said that food security in the EU could be threatened by weak or different standards in US food legislation[14] if foodstuffs currently banned by the EU are likely to be imported. [80] In June 2015, the BBC reported that food security had become a “stumbling block” due to the diversity of US and EU attitudes towards genetically modified crops, pesticides (endocrine disrupting chemicals), growth hormones in the beef sector and the reduction of chicken pathogens , a source of public health concern and disadvantage for European farmers. [104] The ban on animal testing in the EU has been described by the Guardian as “intransigent” with the US approach. [99] A 2018 ku Leuven document estimated that a “deep” free trade agreement such as TTIP between the US and the European Union would increase EU GDP by 1.3% and US GDP by 0.7%. [73] These benefits would be mainly attributable to the removal of non-tariff barriers. [73] The European Court of Justice has ruled that the provisions relating to arbitration between investor countries (including a special court under some free trade agreements) fall within the shared jurisdiction between the European Union and its Member States and that, for this reason, their ratification should be authorised by the EU and each of the 28 Member States. [82] The draft EU text on trade and sustainable development was also sent to the Guardian in July 2016. [108] The Project of 23 June 2016, described as “restricted”, reveals new gaps in the G20`s commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. The IMF estimates these subsidies at $10 million per minute worldwide[109] and G7 ministers meeting in Japan promised to eliminate them in May 2016.
[110] However, the project states that “this end of supply may take into account security of supply.” [108] The Guardian believes that this passage could be open to abuse and will be used to slow the exit of subsidies. The bilateral customs agreement, which the United States and the EU intend to formally implement in the fall of 2020, was the culmination of negotiations that intensified following a meeting between President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Davos in January 2020. Discussions between the US and the EU on possible tariff cuts and the elimination of non-tariff barriers began in earnest in July 2018, when President Trump met at the White House with Commission President von der Leyen`s predecessor, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.