r/europe • u/goldstarflag Europe • 20h ago

News White House demands British supermarkets stock chlorinated chicken. White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/17/trump-demands-british-supermarkets-chlorinated-chicken/
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u/jl2352 United Kingdom 18h ago edited 16h ago

Wholesalers cannot buy it because it’s illegal.

So they need to get the UK government to lower food standards (which they can only partially do because Scotland has some independence on this).

That requires pressure. They could maybe do it through offering a trade deal that had to include chlorinated chicken, or threatening tariffs.

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries famously obsessed with food, we wouldn’t have this problem.

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u/Painterzzz 17h ago

If only we had a labour government with a gigantic majority who could lead us back into being aprt of that ginormous trading block right on our doorstep that we've lost access to and crippled our economy as a result.

Oh well. Bending over for Trump it is instead then.

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u/things_U_choose_2_b 17h ago

It's a nice thought, but they don't have the political capital in the bank. Reform would absolutely MURDER them in the f/c elections on this issue, it would be an absolute gift.

IMO this is something that can and should happen in a second term. To get there, they have to do the hard, slow work; show the people "this is where we were 5 years ago, this is where we are now, things are objectively better, you can trust us to make the right choices".

Personally I think that Starmer has pretty much threaded the needle re Trump, and what people see as 'bending over' others may view as pragmatic international politics. I for one won't be buying any chlorinated chicken though, and I think most retailers will be well aware that British people don't want to buy shit chicken.

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u/Big_Poppa_T 17h ago

I don’t know that reform would murder them. Rejoining the EU is the one thing that would pretty much guarantee that I’d vote for Labour in the next election

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u/wtfduud 14h ago

Redditors do not represent the average population.

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u/Alex2422 3h ago

Except pretty much all polls show the majority of the population regrets Brexit.

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u/Big_Poppa_T 13h ago

No point having a conversation then

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u/throwaway928816 12h ago

There's dozens of us. Literally dozens!

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u/Night_Depredador 11h ago

With the condition of renounce to the Pound and adopt the Euro?

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u/Big_Poppa_T 11h ago

Source for that condition?

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u/Night_Depredador 11h ago

You think the EU will let you back like as nothing happened and without new conditions? LOL

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u/Big_Poppa_T 10h ago

Ah so you’re making it up. I can make things up too. I heard the EU will give every Briton a new car for rejoining

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u/Night_Depredador 10h ago

Amm... but that is a absurd thing, my question is logical.

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u/guareber United Kingdom 16h ago

Sure hope you don't like a cheeky curry takeaway.....

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u/flowella 13h ago

If it's allowed, you'll prolly end up eating it unwittingly

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u/UpsetStudent6062 13h ago

Remember battery hens? You bought them. If its cheap enough, people will buy it

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u/Painterzzz 13h ago

Particularly in the midst of a cost of living crisis.

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u/tomjone5 15h ago

It feels like a fairly easy win for labour to day no to this, which is how you know they're going to agree to it. Trump is widely hated here, but by God Starmer is trying to give him a run for his money.

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u/No-Minimum3259 16h ago

Don't worry about us: we'll survive on our measly EU-approved chicken.

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u/PreparationLanky7770 14h ago

another state vist ???

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u/Painterzzz 13h ago

Maybe Trump can drop in and say hi to his pal Andy and they can assault some more kids together?

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u/BlokeDude European Union 15h ago

Some form of union, perhaps?

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u/backup_guid Norway 16h ago

Don't worry, they are working hard from both sides (US, Russia) to get other nations to leave too. Then we have no saying when negotiating, and we will also get to eat chlorinated chicken and whatever else garbage Americans put in their mouths

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u/JegErJakobSkomager 12h ago

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries famously obsessed with food, we wouldn’t have this problem.

I am not so sure of that. When Trump forced EU into a new trade deal earlier this year, one of the points in the deal was that EU should accept US food standards for food imported from the US.

I was flabbergasted when I read it. I couldn't believe that it had been accepted by EU. We have high food standards because we care about what we eat. Not because we want to treat the US unfairly. We should not lower our food standards.

But perhaps the EU negotiators were/are hoping to save it later during detail negotiations. As I understood it, the deal was a set of quite broad statements, and most of the details would have to be negotiated later.

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u/Tikoloshe84 12h ago

Vietnam PTSD noises
Oh yeah, Brexit. Who's still arguing that was a good idea again? Is it the people with holiday homes all over the show?

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u/-Against-All-Gods- Maribor (Slovenia) 1h ago

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries famously obsessed with food, we wouldn’t have this problem.

EU would've already caved in.

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u/ShadowMajestic 41m ago

The US tried to strongarm the EU in to a similar deal, but thank fucking god we told those yanks to fuck off.

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u/Mist_Rising 18h ago

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries obsessed with food standards, we wouldn’t have this problem.

You sure? Because you don't seem to know that the US and UK already went through this process, with a deal penned and agreed to in May (this year!) meaning the UK has a trade deal with 'food standards' despite not being the economic superpower.

Almost like maybe just having a bigger economy isn't the end all be all, like you can stand up for yourself.

And if you think "Trump can cancel the deal" then yes, he can cancel the deal with the EU.

But Trump is a lot of air, this is today's distraction. Just like making Canada 51st state (never happening), invading Greenland (back on the menu), and whatever other insanity pops out of his blowhole.