EC Report Details U.S. Barriers to European Imports

Barriers to European exports are being increasingly erected at the state rather than the federal level in the United States, the European Community said today.

State regulations on financial and professional services, and in taxation, “create serious handicaps to doing business in the U.S. market,” the EC Executive Commission said in an annual report on “U.S. Trade Barriers and Unfair Trade Practices.”

Public procurement, increasingly done at the state level, was also identified as an area of serious concern in the 12-nation organization. The report cited “Buy American” requirements for public works in about 30 states.

“It is becoming clear that one of the major difficulties of selling into the U.S. market is the extent to which the market is heterogeneous and fragmented,” the 57-page report said.

For example, it said, the state of Florida has a “discriminatory” tax on imported wines of $1.75 to $3.58 per gallon, contrasted with a tax on domestic wines of just 25 cents to $2.95 per gallon.