Philippe Binard: US tariffs will have “strong impact” on global fresh produce trade

Donald Trump’s soon-to-be implemented tariffs will have a strong impact on the global fresh fruit and vegetable trade, but the relatively small volumes sent by the EU to the US mean it will not be as immediately harmful as previous trade crises.

That is the verdict of Philippe Binard, general delegate of industry association Freshfel Europe, who offered Fruitnet his thoughts on yesterday’s announcement by the US president.

“It is a relatively early moment to make an evaluation, but I believe there are a lot of things that can be said already,” he said.

“Yesterday, what was killed was the principle of the ‘most-favoured nation clause’. This means that when you export to one country – unless you have a preferential bilateral agreement – everyone has the same duty.

“What the US is doing is making a calculation of the duty applied to the US when they export to a third country, and I would be interested to go in-depth as to how they have simplified these calculations. He has also included local tax or non-tariff barriers, which I do not think is correct, because when you have VAT applied to consumption, it is applied to all products and does not unfairly target US products. So I think there is a lot of reason to be concerned about how he has calculated it.”

Challenging trade mechanisms

The move to issue a base-rate import tariff of 10 per cent, which was much higher for some countries, challenged the mechanisms of international trade, Binard explained, particularly when it came to good governance.

This was perhaps of little surprise given previous steps taken by the Trump administration.

“I think there were already signals when Trump said he was withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and when he no longer supported the principals of the World Health Organization,” Binard continued. “This is just more in-depth.

“It is true that the US maybe had lower tariffs, but it also has much stricter non-tariff barriers for importing to the country. From a European perspective, exports to the US are hampered by the long and excessive conditions it imposes. It is not an open but rather a heavily regulated market. For example, we started discussing greater access for apples and pears in 2009 – it is 2025 and we still have no result.”

On the other hand, the US could freely export to Europe, he outlined. While US exporters had some concerns with pesticide restrictions in Europe, that was simply a matter of sustainability and customer request, as opposed to an access problem.

These issues, he pointed out, had been addressed by suppliers in the Southern Hemisphere, who had adapted their growing conditions accordingly, as had some Northern Hemisphere exporters.

Binard suggested that the way the Trump administration dealt with the topic of sustainability would probably lead to a greater gap in the approach of the US when compared with the rest of the world.

Fruit and vegetables in focus

Homing in on the European fruit and vegetable sector, Binard emphasised the importance of the business remaining vocal, particularly given the noise around industries such as motor vehicles, steel and aluminium, and and the digital market.

“Fruit and vegetables are a big part of trade opportunities and undoubtedly what the US is doing will have a strong impact,” he confirmed. “There is also the collateral effect, not only what is happening with access and supply but also the impact on the US consumer.

“There is the possibility of inflation, which could hurt the economy and this in turn has a global impact and the potential for economic crisis –  that– that is not good for the US, and not good for the rest of the world.”

Extra charges could make the US market less competitive and therefore unattractive for some its key fresh produce supply nations, Binard warned. This could lead to a long-term ripple effect of altered trade flows, more volumes targeted at alternative markets such as Europe, and increased pressure on those markets as a result.

“We have to see the snowball effect this will have because the EU will for sure prepare retaliatory measures, and who knows, there may even be some legal challenges,” he continued. “We will definitely see developments in the coming weeks and Europe will respond very, very quickly.

“But this is not just about Europe. Previously, the US was very targeted, at China, India and so on. This is a trade war with the world.”

There may even be a reaction in the US itself, he suggested.

“Not everyone in the US will be pleased. Some will like the protectionism and the idea of ‘America First’, but others will be less sure.

“The US will need to produce a lot of things – not just fresh produce, but in other areas – and they must have the capacity to do this, and the labour. There is a bit of incoherence, and I am not sure the US government has looked at all the aspects.”

Immediate impact

EU fruit and vegetable exports to the US totalled 76,739 tonnes in 2024, according to Eurostat, representing just 0.7 per cent of the total exported by the 27 member states worldwide.

The relatively small volumes moved meant the initial, direct impact of the tariffs would not be felt as strongly as previous crises.

European fresh produce was primarily sold on local markets and within the safe harbour of the EU Single Market, he explained, with exports remaining important for market stability.

The new crisis should generate export opportunities in the wider EU neighbourhood, Latin America, Asia and Southeast Asia as well as Africa, in destinations where the EU has forged Free Trade Agreements.

“This is not like the time we were hit by the Russian embargo, where we moved 2mn tonnes and were all hit at once,” said Binard. “Today we export less than 100,000 tonnes to the US, a reflection of the non-tariff barriers imposed on exports to the country. Of course, those who are involved in the business of exporting to the US might be impacted and may have to look at other markets.”

Right now, the EU will concentrate on stimulating and growing the consumption of fresh produce, emphasising its health benefits and demonstrating, in the face of the latest challenge, the industry’s great resilience.

“Unfortunately, we have seen in the past ten years the acceleration of crises, from Covid to the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis, the energy crisis and of course Brexit,” said Binard. “And now the US is taking what is an incredibly narrow-minded approach, as I’m sure there are lots of different ways to address this perceived trade imbalance – remember, we also have a big trade imbalance in Europe between food imports and exports. Mixing the economic and political elements together does not always lead to good analysis.”

Future opportunities

Despite the uncertainty, Binard expected openings to be created by the tariff announcement.

“For everyone, there might be an opportunity,” he pointed out. “And I think in Europe we must see how we can boost our collaborations with like-minded trading countries.

“There could be opportunities with Mercosur nations, for example, and other big economies like Japan where we export a very limited number of products,” he added. “We can look at destinations in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean basin, and Turkey is a big market.

“We will continue to boost global trade with the free world – in any crisis, there are always opportunities.”