Delays in Trade Agreement with EU, Walmart Providing Sustainable Products
- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says disagreements regarding sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) are delaying U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations.
The EU’s SPS issues mostly concern pork, poultry and beef, particularly ractopamine in pork and artificial growth hormones in beef. The U.S. poultry industry is partially banned from the EU because of the EU’s position on chlorinated chicken.
European politicians say they will not import hormone beef because they would have to change their basic legislation.
- More than a dozen of Walmart’s suppliers have committed to providing products produced using sustainable agriculture practices.
Participating suppliers’ efforts are expected to bring eight million acres of farmland into sustainable agriculture programs and eliminate six million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Walmart also announced plans for a sustainability store on its website which would allow customers to identify brands making efforts to lead sustainability within a category by tagging them with a special icon.
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