According to Bloomberg, Europeans and Americans are once again asked to deal with some of the most difficult issues that seem to cause them trouble: cheese, wine, foie gras and steak, in view of negotiations for a new trade agreement between the U.S. and the EU.
At the moment the U.S. and the EU seem ready to make concessions to get over their long controversies, their good intentions however, seem to be threatened by a dispute over cheese.
According to the agency, Europe insists that the U.S. recognize the geographic segmentation, namely the protection provided for food and beverages according to their region of origin, their specific method of production, as well as the origin of ingredients.
The U.S. claim that some names, such as cheddar or mortadella, have been common words for a really long time now and are general references to products manufactured worldwide.
According to Bloomberg, feta cheese is a good example of the EU’s exaggeration. Both Greece and the EU argue that the name feta is only used for the cheese made in Greece, although feta is not produced in a single region of Greece, but throughout the country and in different varieties.
Until now, the U.S. and the EU have agreed that they actually disagree over the mutual recognition of geographic segmentation and trade by product. Now the EU is trying to impose its views on the geographic segmentations in bilateral trade agreements, which could exclude some American products from the markets for a long time.
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