According to the analysis, all trade agreements already concluded or in preparation fail to meet earlier expectations. The cumulative impact of the trade agreements on the EU agri-food trade balance is much less positive than previously thought.
A study by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission examined agreements with Australia, Chile, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand. These are agreements currently under negotiation or that have been concluded but not yet implemented.
The findings of the research cast doubt on the effectiveness of recent trade agreements. Although these were partly intended to promote the export of agricultural products and food from the EU, the results show that the actual benefits are modest. This is also expected to apply to the pending EU agreement with the South American Mercosur countries, which is still awaiting ratification.
The report points to specific challenges facing the European agri-food sector as a result of the trade agreements, such as increasing competition from imported products and the need to comply with strict environmental and climate regulations for EU exports.
The study also looked at the impact on European agriculture of the trade agreement recently concluded by the United Kingdom with Australia and New Zealand. The expectation is that this will have only a limited influence on the marketing of EU production to the British.
The European Commission emphasizes that although there are generally some improvements for the agricultural sector and food exports, these do not meet initial expectations. The JRC study was conducted to allow the new European Commission, which takes office at the end of this year, to update ongoing trade agreements.