Europe’s Brewers call for level playing field in EU-US trade talks
The secrecy surrounding the EU-US trade talks – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - has already stoked widespread fears among European environmental and consumer groups that the pact will lower standards for everything from apples to automobiles. Opposition to TTIP is rife. But the angst over the potential impact of an EU trade agreement is also coming from mainstream European groups who don’t have a knee-jerk approach to trade agreements.
On 7 March 2014, Europe’s brewers joined in the debate and called for a level playing field on tax relief for small brewers to be included in TTIP. Currently small U.S. brewers exporting to the EU are eligible for the reduced tax rate both in the U.S. and the EU, whilst a European brewer exporting to the U.S. gets no such break.
In their statement, the Brewers of Europe argue: “Just as small brewers from the U.S. can receive significant discounts when exporting to the EU, the ambition is that small brewers from the EU benefit from the same discount in the U.S. as the domestic brewers. In the U.S., whilst the larger breweries pay a federal excise tax of USD 18 per barrel, small brewers pay just USD 7 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels they brew.”
Research from Ernst & Young and Regioplan published in February 2014 shows that the USD 100 billion U.S. market is the largest export market for Europe’s brewers, with 26 out of 28 EU countries exporting there.
The Brewers of Europe argue further that the discriminatory excise duty system in the U.S., whereby only domestic breweries can benefit, currently disadvantages the 250 or so small European breweries that already export to the United States. And it also discourages hundreds more European beer brands from entering the market, the higher excise duty for imported beers damaging European brands’ export potential.
The call has received strong backing from brewers across Europe, especially in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy and the United Kingdom.
