WASHINGTON, DC – Today’s announcement from the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that live, raw, and processed bivalve molluscan shellfish trade to and from the EU will resume is a welcome development. This agreement creates new markets for many U.S. exporters of Massachusetts and Washington states’ molluscan shellfish.
The bilateral agreement also allows EU producers in Spain and the Netherlands to export live and raw bivalve molluscan shellfish to the United States.
Trade in products like oysters, clams, mussels, and whole or roe-on scallops has been disrupted for nearly a decade. Now these highly sought-after U.S. products will have new markets, free of nonscientific trade barriers.
We applaud Ambassador Tai and her USTR team for their hard work during this long and laborious process. We urge USTR to ensure that the EU continues to follow through on its commitment to further open EU markets to all other processed molluscan shellfish products such as clams from the U.S. The economic opportunity presented by today’s agreement should be fully realized for American seafood workers throughout the entire U.S. supply chain.
John Connelly
President
