The European Union (EU) could lose access to key agricultural imports from the USA if its deforestation law is introduced in its current form, according to senior US officials quoted in a Euractiv report.
Without amendments, the legislation could discourage US producers from supplying the bloc, the officials were quoted as saying in the 13 March report.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels on the day of the report, a senior US Department of Agriculture (USDA) official said the rules would impose heavy compliance burdens on US exports – including soyabeans.
The officials raised their concerns while making a tour of EU capitals – including Madrid, Rome, Paris, Berlin and concluding in Brussels – aimed at raising Washington’s concerns ahead of a European Commission (EC) review of the EU Deforestation law (EUDR) scheduled for April, Euractiv wrote.
The EUDR requires importers of seven commodities – palm oil, soyabean, timber, rubber, coffee, cocoa and cattle – and some derived products, to prove that their supply chains are not linked to deforestation.
It is scheduled to come into force on 30 December 2026 for large and medium companies.
The regulation would require costly traceability and segregation systems, making the EU less attractive for US exporters, the USDA official said, adding that American farmers were reluctant to share sensitive data with foreign authorities.
As the bloc did not produce enough protein crops domestically, European livestock producers relied heavily on imported soyabean feed, the official said.
According to Washington estimates, the EUDR could affect around €7.8bn (US$8.9bn)/year in US exports to the EU.
In a previous report on 12 March, Euractiv wrote that Washington had proposed several changes as part of the EC review.
One idea put forward was to introduce a “negligible risk” category for the USA with “dramatically simplified documentation”, the USDA official said.
Under EUDR rules, countries are classified as low, standard and high risk of deforestation, with the USA falling under the low-risk category.
The USA would also like the EU to revise the rule that excludes countries from “low-risk” status if deforestation exceeds 70,000ha/year, claiming that the absolute threshold disadvantages large countries.
However, environmental and human rights groups had pushed back on the US proposal, Euractiv wrote.
The USA recorded net forest loss of about 120,000ha/year between 2015 and 2025, Human Rights Watch researcher Luciana Tellez Chavez said, citing the latest Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) forest report.
