Farmers' associations: 'To mediate tariffs buy maize and soya from the US'
Reconnaissance by Il Sole 24 Ore among the main Italian agricultural organisations in view of a possible EU-US negotiation to reduce the tariffs threat
3' min read
3' min read
Accelerating the import of commodities from the US, particularly products for which Italy has a deficit. Seek wide-ranging collaboration on agriculture 5.0 technologies as well as genetic research, but no concessions on the protection of geographical indications.
This is the result of a survey promoted by Il Sole 24 Ore among the main Italian agricultural organisations with a view to a possible EU-US negotiation in order to defuse the tariffs threat.
The point is that it is difficult to continue to demand freedom of access to the US market without at the same time opening up to some concessions. And until recently, the attitude of Italian and European farmers has been one of total closure on all of Washington's main agricultural demands: no to GMOs, no to the import of cereals treated with glyphosate, no to hormone-treated meat and - above all - no to the liberalisation of PDO and PGI names, hence no to Parmesan and Asiago made in the USA.
But after the first few months of tariffs and faced with little possibility of replacing an outlet market such as the US (a little less than 8 billion in made-in-Italy food exports, 1.9 billion in wine alone), attitudes are changing.
Important was the recent bilateral meeting that Agriculture Minister Lollobrigida had with US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. At the end of the meeting, the American 'minister' asked: Why are you importing maize and soya from Brazil and Ukraine instead of the US?
