ABSTRACT
Why do transatlantic tensions often escalate over issues related to the trade in food products? What are the broader implications of transatlantic food disputes for regional and global integration, and policy harmonization? Although cooperation and convergence are the norm and food disputes concern only one to two percent of the total value of transatlantic trade and investment, the transatlantic agricultural trade disputes have been very important because of their affect on the broader transatlantic relationship and other regions of the world. In particular, the disputes between the EU and the US over GM food products reveal that international agricultural conicts are becoming more complex. Old trade disputes emerged as a result of traditional barriers erected by nation-states in the forms of tariffs and quotas, but the new trade disputes have resulted from regulatory differences over managing risk. Substantially different views on precaution and science have been at the center of transatlantic disputes over GMs.
