The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) has been deemed dead in the water several times since negotiations began more than five years ago between the United States and the European Union. Talks between the U.S. and EU continue, however, despite a trade war that has been on again, off again during the Trump administration. Recent headlines have U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue insisting that the EU should lift barriers to what the EU refers to as “chlorinated chicken,” which the U.S. deems safely sanitized produce.
“We have a very efficient system of poultry production and we are able to export to every other country in the world,” Perdue told the Los Angeles Times. “Peracetic acid...is a great pathogen reduction treatment. You know what it is? It’s vinegar, essentially. To say that’s unsafe or not to be used, we don’t think there’s a basis for that in sound science.”[1]
The EU has resisted U.S. demands so far. Trade talks seem to have stalled, even as a stay of tariffs was negotiated between the two blocs last year.