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A delegation from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been on a week-long lobbying tour of EU member states as part of a broader pattern of US pressure to weaken or eliminate the EUDR, culminating in a meeting today at the European Commission. One of the main demands from US officials is the classification of the US as a 'zero-risk' country.
Responding Isabel Fernandez, senior advisor for Mighty Earth said:
"The US delegation is essentially trying to kill off and destroy the EU's flagship zero-deforestation law and are using scaremongering tactics to get an opt out for US timber and soy exporters."
"The US is demanding it should be exempt from strict EUDR due diligence rules by being designated under an entirely new 'Zero-risk' category of exporters. This is a fallacy with UN data showing the US responsible for 120,000 hectares of forest loss per year over the past decade, and the US is set to increase its deforestation and degradation footprint further as it opens up more protected land and forests to these threats."
"Far from EUDR rules being 'excessive' as the US claims, global markets are increasingly demanding deforestation-free supply chains. US producers will be the losers if they can't access European markets."
"The EU must see off these last-minute US threats to the EUDR and protect its climate laws and wider sovereignty. It can't bow to meddling and interference by the US and eviscerate its key climate and nature laws."
