U.K. international trade secretary Liz Truss and environment minister George Eustice on Sunday announced the U.K. government will make a structural change to its trade negotiation review process designed to exclude certain U.S. products, including chicken, from being made eligible to export to the U.K.
U.S. chicken is currently ineligible for export to the European Union, of which the U.K. was a member until 2019. The U.S. and U.K. are currently conducting negotiations on a bilateral trade deal to replace any existing EU obligations on U.K. market access.
The U.K. government has sent mixed signals throughout the course of negotiations on whether it would reconsider the ban on U.S. chicken, but has now announced it is enabling the recently-established trade and agriculture commission to have a statutory role in determining what amendments can be made to the new Agriculture Bill. That bill is a key factor in determining British law – and what products it will make eligible for export to the U.K. – after its exit from the European Union.
Importantly, the National Farmers’ Union and Food and Drink Federation sit on the trade and agriculture commission. Both organizations will now be asked to provide a report on the impact on animal welfare and agriculture of any free trade deal negotiated by the British government. Their recommendations will then be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act process. Both organizations strongly oppose imports of American chicken.
Additionally, both Truss and Eustice said U.S. chicken will not be considered in trade negotiations. “Chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef are already banned in the UK, and we will not negotiate to remove that ban in a trade deal,” they said in a statement.
