The U.S. and the European Commission have released a joint framework covering the recent trade deal between the two sides, which will see preferential market access for a range of products, including seafood.
The E.U. agreed to a trade deal with the U.S. on 28 July, just days before the 1 August deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump set for achieving some form of agreement. Without the deal, goods from the E.U. entering the U.S. would have faced tariffs as high as 30 percent.
As part of the deal, Trump said the E.U. agreed to increase its investment in the U.S. by more than USD 600 billion (EUR 517 billion) over its current levels. However, at the time, the exact details of the trade agreement were not released.
Now, just under a month after the announcement, the U.S. and E.U. released more details as part of a joint statement, revealing U.S. seafood will receive preferential market access in the bloc.
“This Framework Agreement represents a concrete demonstration of our commitment to fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial trade and investment,” the statement reads. “This Framework Agreement will put our trade and investment relationship – one of the largest in the world – on a solid footing and will reinvigorate our economies’ reindustrialization.”
The National Fisheries Institute praised the new framework, and said it will be a boon for the U.S. seafood industry.
"We urge USTR to ensure that the European Union moves expeditiously to put these commitments into effect, so that U.S. seafood exporters and their American workers can capitalize on these advances as soon as possible," NFI President and CEO Lisa Wallenda Picard said. "These types of wins will have a demonstrable impact on U.S. companies, while providing European and other consumers premium, sustainable U.S. seafood products."
The preferential access specifically mentions a deal reached during the previous Trump administration between former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and former E.U. Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan that removed E.U. duties on U.S. live and frozen lobster products. That deal was announced on 21 August 2020, and E.U. lawmakers later voted in favor of the trade deal – but the deal expired in late July of this year.
The latest framework will continue and expand on that deal, the joint statement said.
“The European Union will immediately take the necessary steps to extend the Joint Statement of the United States and the European Union on a Tariff Agreement announced on 21 August 2020, with respect to lobster (that expired 31 July 2025), coupled with an expanded product scope to include processed lobster,” the statement said.
New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association COO Dustin Delano said the agreement is a victory for U.S. lobstermen.
"Keeping the EU market open and duty free is crucial to the long-term success of the lobster industry and the support of coastal communities," Delano said. "This agreement is another example of how good policy can benefit hardworking fishermen and the coastal communities they sustain."
The original trade deal in 2020 leveled the playing field between U.S. and Canadian lobster.
Canada struck a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the E.U. that went into effect in September 2017. Following the deal, the U.S. International Trade Commission investigated the impacts of the deal on U.S. lobster in 2020; it later terminated that investigation and decided to not pursue a report after the E.U. decided to remove tariffs on U.S. lobster at the time.
