Arguing that there is no place called “Feta” in Greece, or in the entire European Union, the US administration is attempting to refute EU legislation on products with protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI).
In a post on Tuesday on the account maintained on the X platform, the US Trade Representative, currently Jamieson Greer, who is responsible for formulating and recommending trade policy to the US president, as well as for conducting trade negotiations with other countries, mentions the case of fetas protection as one of the “10 craziest foreign trade barriers facing American exporters.”
The post reads: “Within the European Union, the term ‘feta’ can only be used for cheese produced in Greece, since the EU claims that certain cheese terms are connected to specific places in Europe. However, there is no specific place named ‘Feta’ in Europe! And the EU forces other countries to follow this same nonsensical rule. This locks American producers out of key markets merely for using certain cheese terms,” Greer wrote on X.
10/10: Within the European Union, the term “feta” can only be used for cheese produced in Greece, since the EU claims that certain cheese terms are connected to specific places in Europe.
However, there is no specific place named “Feta” in Europe! And the EU forces other…
— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) April 27, 2026
For years, Wisconsin has produced cheese marketed as “feta” in the US and other third countries, but is not allowed to be sold as such in the EU, as well as in those other third countries that are bound by agreements with the EU to comply with the legislation on PDO and PGI products.
Feta’s case, however, has not been included in the 534 pages of this year’s report, “2026 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program,” although it strongly criticizes the EU and some member-states, including Greece, both for the legislation on PDO and PGI products and for the recent legislation on the registration of geographical indications and on industrial and handicraft products.
The report, however, expresses complaints about obstacles posed by EU and Greek legislation, and the practice followed in Greece on a number of other issues, such as participation in state procurement tenders, clawback on medicines and medical devices, subsidies for agricultural products, and the provision of legal services by American lawyers.