【By Observer News, Chen Sijia】The United States and the United Kingdom reached a trade agreement in May last year, but they still failed to reach an agreement on reducing "non-tariff barriers." According to a report by Politico Europe on January 18, U.S. negotiators have started pressuring the UK to adopt U.S. standards and recognize U.S. certification bodies. Analysts are concerned that this may threaten the UK's food industry and undermine cooperation between the UK and the EU.

People familiar with the negotiations revealed that the U.S. and the UK signed the "Technology Prosperity Agreement" in September last year to strengthen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and civil nuclear energy. However, due to ongoing differences between the U.S. and the UK on reducing trade barriers, the U.S. suspended the agreement last month. After that, U.S. trade negotiators began increasing pressure on the UK.

Three sources said that the latest U.S. proposal has gone beyond the original terms of the trade agreement, trying to further push the UK to adopt U.S. standards to address "non-tariff barriers." They revealed that U.S. negotiators are pushing the UK to recognize various different U.S. certification bodies, granting them power to approve certifications and testing in the UK.

Although the UK government has clearly stated that food standards are a "red line" in the negotiations, some people familiar with the talks worry that the UK might make concessions on other issues. One insider said: "I'm worried that these issues, which were initially red lines and long seen as red lines, are facing growing risks of being breached."

Another source told Politico that the UK hopes to strengthen trade cooperation with the EU, so UK negotiators refused to compromise on trade standards. However, U.S. negotiators "keep circling back" to the issue, repeatedly asking the UK to "align with U.S. standards" during the negotiations.

On September 18 last year, U.S. President Trump and UK Prime Minister Starmer held a joint press conference IC photo

Regarding the related reports, a spokesperson for the UK government said: "Our historic agreement with the U.S. has already brought results to the pharmaceutical, aerospace, and automotive industries. Our agreement with the EU will eliminate trade barriers such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), saving billions of dollars in costs for British exports."

The spokesperson added: "We have consistently made it clear that we will maintain high standards for food and the environment in our trade agreements, and we will continue to negotiate with the U.S. and the EU to strengthen trade relations."

A spokesperson for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not dispute the specific content reported by Politico, but the spokesperson said that the information came from "anonymous and irrelevant sources" who "have no knowledge of U.S.-UK trade negotiations."

The spokesperson said that the U.S. and the UK will continue to work constructively to finalize the remaining parts of the trade agreement, including the UK's commitment to "improve access to the U.S. agricultural market."

Politico noted that the U.S. operates a decentralized standard system, with certification tasks handled by a competitive network of organizations, most of which are commercial entities. This is completely different from the UK's current certification model, where a single non-profit certification body, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), oversees certification and product testing.

Peter Holmes, a trade standards expert at the University of Sussex, warned that if the UK adopts the U.S. system, UKAS would face direct competition with U.S. certification bodies, "they may have to take shortcuts and abandon legally mandated public service obligations."

He was concerned that this could turn the UK into a "wild west market," where "you wouldn't be able to trust any product sold in the UK."

Several industry insiders also told Politico that adopting U.S. standards would hinder the UK's trade cooperation with the EU, making it difficult for UKAS to meet the basic requirements for membership in the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA).

Industry insiders said that the UK and the EU are discussing plans to align their agricultural product trade agreements and carbon emission trading systems. These agreements may require the EU to recognize the UK's food regulatory laboratories and emission verification agencies. If the UK accepts U.S. standards, it could disrupt these negotiations and jeopardize the UK's future cooperation with the EU in areas such as industrial manufactured goods.

UK Prime Minister Starmer has expressed willingness to deepen relations with the EU and seek a "reset" of UK-EU relations. Starmer recently told the BBC: "If it is in our own interest, we should consider whether to connect with the single market... Now we need to consider each item individually, but we have already connected in the areas of food and agriculture and will implement it this year."

An informed source analyzed for Politico said that the UK-U.S. trade negotiations "are currently basically at a standstill," and as the UK pushes again to cooperate with the EU, "the likelihood of accepting the U.S. conditions will greatly decrease."

Previously, the UK government repeatedly denied the possibility of revising UK standards, refusing to allow U.S. chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef into the UK market. Chris Bryant, the Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security at the UK Department for Business, said: "We will not compromise on food standards. Food standards are very important, and we have no room for compromise on this."

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7597076627743900175/

Statement: The views expressed in this article are those of the author.