EU tariffs on US grains to hit livestock sector, industry group says

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PARIS (Reuters) – European Union tariffs on U.S. grains, as part of the bloc’s riposte to Washington’s levies on steel and aluminium, would hurt a European livestock sector reliant on imports for animal feed, industry association FEFAC said on Wednesday.

A large EU trade surplus with the United States in agriculture is a common complaint for U.S. President Donald Trump, though the United States is the EU’s biggest supplier of soybeans and a major supplier of corn.

The European Commission earlier announced plans to impose extra duties on up to 26 billion euros ($28 billion) of U.S. imports. 

That would involve reintroducing from April 1 tariffs on goods like corn that were suspended after a previous trade battle during Trump’s first term, and imposing duties from April 13 on products from a new list that includes soybeans.

Such tariffs would “adversely affect resilience and competitiveness of EU livestock production systems,” FEFAC President Pedro Cordero said in a statement.

FEFAC, which represents manufacturers of livestock feed, said feed grains could support a negotiated settlement between the EU and the U.S. avoiding tariffs.

Given its reliance on foreign feed commodities, EU imports from the U.S. “can easily be doubled from current 4 billion euros to 8 billion euros, thus reducing the current U.S. agricultural trade deficit with the EU,” Cordero said.

The currently suspended tariff on U.S. corn is 25%, which could price U.S. corn out of major European importing countries like Spain.

Chicago corn and soybean futures were lower on Wednesday, with traders saying the EU counter-measures were adding to concern that U.S. farm exports may be hurt by Trump’s tariff policies. [GRA/] 

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Mark Potter)