Implications of the European Green Deal for agri-food trade with developing countries

The European Green Deal has the ambition to bring about a more sustainable food system. Trade policy is required to be coherent with and supportive of the objectives of the Green Deal. Various legislative and other initiatives have been introduced or proposed to use trade policy measures to support the move to higher sustainability standards in the food system both in the EU and globally. Mandatory due diligence requirements for companies are proposed to ensure they have ‘clean’ supply chains. Mirror clauses have been proposed in agri-food trade to require that imported products meet similar regulatory standards as EU producers. Promoting this agenda is a priority of the French EU Presidency in the first half of 2022. Higher sustainability standards and accompanying trade measures will have a significant impact on the competitiveness of EU producers as well as international trade in food. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of this debate, with a particular focus on vulnerable developing countries for which the EU is an important market