EU and US Battle in the geographic cheese wars

Once again geographic indicators (GI) or names have become the main contention in trade negotiations. The GI issues relate to the protection of names of certain products associated with specific geographic areas. Following South Africa's Free Trade Agreement with the European Union (EU), South Africa had to discontinue the use of wine and spirit names such as “port”, “sherry”, “grappa” and “ouzo” due to GI issues. This time two main global trading partners, Unites States (US) and the EU are fighting over dairy products' names, specifically cheese.

The EU wants to prohibit US dairy makers from using names such as “feta”, “parmesan”, “gorgonzola” and others for their cheese products. The EU argues that these names are linked to specific European regions. The US trade negotiators have been advised by the senators to reject such a plan by the EU. For more on this story, please click here.