RFA Thanks President for Securing Greater Market Access for Ethanol in UK Trade Agreement

May 09, 2025

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(Renewable Fuels Association) President Trump today (May 8, 2025) announced a significant trade agreement with the United Kingdom, specifically including greater market access for U.S. ethanol. According to the White House, the deal includes new access to the UK market for $700 million in U.S. ethanol exports. The following is a statement from Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper.

“We sincerely thank President Trump and his trade negotiators for ensuring that American-made ethanol is an important part of the trade agreement announced today with the United Kingdom. While we are still awaiting the specific details of the agreement, we are excited about the prospects of expanded market access that will help boost our farm economy, while also delivering lower-cost, cleaner fuel to UK drivers.”

In 2024, the UK was the second-highest destination for U.S. ethanol exports, after Canada, with a total of 243.8 million gallons, representing 13 percent of all ethanol exports. READ MORE

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Excerpt from DTN Progressive Farmer: In a fact sheet, the White House detailed greater access for agricultural products that included, "Ethanol, beef, cereals, fruits, vegetables, animal feed, tobacco, soft drinks, shellfish, textiles, chemicals, machinery and more."

The fact sheet said the deal includes more than $700 million in ethanal exports and $250 million more in other agricultural products such as beef. The deal also commits the two countries to work together to expand agricultural market access.

"The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers," Trump said.

Officials on both sides of the Atlantic noted the United Kingdom agreed to a framework, suggesting more specific negotiations will be needed to finalize the deal.

ETHANOL

Under the agreement, the tariff on U.S. ethanol will drop from 19% to zero, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at the White House event. The U.S. exported $535 million in ethanol to the U.K. in 2024, according to USDA data, making ethanol the top agricultural export product to the U.K.

As the industry touted the news, representatives in the ethanol industry were looking for more details about how the White House came up with the $700 million figure.

"While we are still awaiting the specific details of the agreement, we are excited about the prospects of expanded market access that will help boost our farm economy, while also delivering lower-cost, cleaner fuel to UK drivers," said Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association.

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The U.S. will grant the U.K. up to 13,000 tons of tariff-free beef access to the United States as well. As of now, the U.S. imports almost no beef from the U.K.

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At the White House event, U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer said there will be continued talks with U.K. officials about accepting hormone-treated beef and poultry products that have been rinsed with a chlorinate solution -- a common practice in the U.S. but banned in the UK and Europe.

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The U.S. exported just under $2.2 billion in agricultural products to the U.K. last year with ethanol being the single highest-selling product.

The U.S. imported $2.7 billion in agricultural products from the United Kingdom in 2024. The lion's share of U.K.'s totals are distilled spirits such as scotch and gin, which top $1.6 billion in sales to the U.S.

OTHER DEALS COMING

Under the U.K. deal, most exports from the United Kingdom outside of a tariff-rate quota will face a 10% tariff, Trump said.

When it comes to autos, Rolls Royce engines and plane parts will come over tariff-free. Overall, actual Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Bentley autos will have a 10% tariff, Trump said. READ MORE

Excerpt from S&P Global: For US ethanol producers, the deal couldn't come at a better time. It paves the way for over $700 million in new exports by eliminating restrictive fuel blend caps and aligning standards with US biofuel specifications.

According to US Energy Information Administration, the US in 2024 exported 5.81 million barrels of ethanol to the UK -- accounting for 12.68% of total export volumes. Through February 2025, only 541,000 barrels, or 6.73% of 2025 ethanol exports, have been sent to the UK.

Facing mounting pressure to decarbonize its energy sector, the UK is expected to lean heavily on US corn-based ethanol to meet renewable energy targets. Streamlined customs procedures and mutual recognition of fuel quality standards are expected to make US ethanol not just viable, but preferred. READ MORE

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: CEO Geoff Cooper tells Brownfield specific details haven’t been released, but it has the potential to double US ethanol exports. “That’s a huge deal for the industry. That’s a significant bump in demand not just for ethanol but for our corn grower friends. If you think about 250 or 300 million (more) gallons of ethanol, that’s 100 million bushels of corn.”

According to the Trump administration, the agreement includes $700 million in ethanol exports.

Chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Board Jan TenBensel, a farmer from McCook, says it’s good news, but there’s still work to do. “That’s not a tremendous amount, but every drop in the barrel counts. This is not just the UK that we’re dealing with as far as exports. Ireland is at 10%, France is an E10. (Ethanol is in) Norway, Austria (and) Poland. There’s a lot of ethanol being used in Europe and that’s helping to move the needle.”

In 2024, the UK was the second-highest destination for U.S. ethanol exports, after Canada, with a total of 243.8 million gallons. READ MORE; includes AUDIO

Excerpt from NFU: A highly anticipated UK-USA framework agreement has been announced. In return for the removal of 25% additional tariffs on steel and aluminium, and a quota of 100,000 cars at a duty of 10%, the UK Government has made concessions on two sectors of agriculture.

Specifically, the US will have access to the UK beef market through a tariff rate quota of 13,000t (shipped weight) hormone-free beef.

In return, the UK will gain 13,000t of ring-fenced access to the US beef market. The US will have access to 1.4 billion litres duty free ethanol.

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Responding to the news, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “We find ourselves in this position as a direct result of tariffs introduced by the US administration in April. This is not something anybody wanted.

“Since then, we have worked tirelessly on behalf of British agriculture, engaging closely with the UK government to ensure our farmers receive a fair and balanced outcome within this deal and that the public is not exposed to lower standard produce.

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“However, the inclusion of a significant volume of bioethanol in the deal raises concerns for British arable farmers.”

Biofuels are extremely important for the crops sector, and their domestic demand of up to 2 million tonnes can be very important to balance supply and demand and to produce up to one million tons of animal feed as a by-product. Therefore, opening up our ethanol market to such volume could translate into the loss of this profitable outlet for our arable growers.

Today is the start, not the end

“We are working through what this means for the viability of the domestic bioethanol production and therefore the potential impact on our members,” Tom added.

“Our biggest concern is that two agricultural sectors have been singled out to shoulder the heavy burden of the removal of tariffs for other industries in the economy. While we understand this, we also know that today is the start, not the end, of a process and UK agriculture cannot continue to shoulder such imbalances in future negotiations.”

What happens next?

Further tariff negotiations have been paused for now, with no clear timescale when they will be picked up again. READ MORE

Excerpt from The Times: In a statement, a spokesman for Ensus, which employs about 100 people, said: “This raises very significant questions around the viability of manufacturing bioethanol in the UK. We therefore await details of what the announcement means for our business and the UK biofuels industry in general from the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Transport.”

The company’s plant at the Wilton International site on Teesside has been operating for about 15 years, using more than one million of tonnes of wheat a year from UK farmers to produce about 400 million litres of ethanol, which goes into petrol.

It also makes about 350,000 tonnes of high-protein animal feed for UK farmers and 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. About 2,000 people work across its supply chain. Ensus’s parent company is CropEnergies, a German firm.

An ABF spokesman said: “The government’s last-minute decision to allow tariff-free ethanol imports from the US into the UK is causing great anxiety to many people in the northeast of England, not least to the many employees and suppliers and farmers involved in the UK bioethanol industry. We are working through the detail and the implications of the trade deal with the UK government. We will have more to say in due course.”

Vivergo, which employs about 150 people, can produce up to 420 million litres of bioethanol and 400,000 tonnes of animal feed a year.

As part of Thursday’s trade deal with President Trump, the prime minister agreed to allow US ethanol exporters, which previously faced tariffs of about 20 per cent, a duty-free quota of 1.4 billion litres (370 million gallons) a year. READ MORE

Excerpt from Argus Media: UK producers may still seek to maximise imports from the US for onward export into the EU.

The current EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) allows for zero tariffs and quotas on all trade of UK and EU goods that comply with appropriate rules or origin.

But with this new deal, there is an increased chance of US ethanol entering the EU via the UK, Epure said.

"Under existing customs rules US ethanol can be mixed with UK ethanol and thus avoid an EU duty," it said.

This may include major proportion, which limits the share of non-originating materials to claim UK origin, or inward processing relief, which allows for imports to be processed without paying import duties or value added tax (VAT) before re-export.

Some market participants contested the extent to which UK-EU flows of ethanol with partial US origin might happen, suggesting the imported ethanol would need to undergo a significant chemical change to be classified as duty free, such as being used as feedstock for products including ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE).

EPure said the EU should be wary, and called for ethanol to be included in a final list of products subject to EU countermeasures, as it was in a recent proposal from the bloc currently under public consultation. READ MORE

Excerpt from The Business Desk: The UK’s largest bioethanol producer has warned it will be forced to shut unless the government “urgently” intervenes to fix what it says is damage caused by the UK-US trade deal and “long-standing regulatory failures.”

Vivergo Fuels, based in Saltend Chemicals Park near Hull, has written to wheat growing farmers in its supply chain to make it clear that wheat purchases will be scaled back from next month to meet only existing contractual obligations.

It says that without the action government has pledged, the plant will no longer be viable, and wheat purchases will have to end.

The warning follows the removal of the 19 per cent tariff on ethanol imports from the US under the new trade deal – a move that Vivergo Fuels says makes it “impossible” to compete with heavily subsidised American imports.

The business notes that even before the trade deal, the industry faced sustained regulatory pressures not seen in the EU which have further undermined commercial viability.

Vivergo Fuels says bioethanol is an essential green fuel and domestic production is a “key national strategic asset.”

It helps reduce emissions from petrol and is expected to be a key component in sustainable aircraft fuel in the future.

Vivergo Fuels adds that if the plant closes it will leave the UK exposed to the whims of foreign markets and potential supply disruptions caused by weather events.

Vivergo Fuel’s parent company, ABF Sugar, says it wrote to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on 23 May, calling for urgent action to prevent the closure.

Today – 27 May – Vivergo Fuels managing director, Ben Hackett, wrote to suppliers explaining the difficulties the plant is facing.

He said: “This is not a position we ever wanted to be in. This plant supports skilled jobs, a major regional supply chain, and provides a critical domestic market for British farmers growing non-food grade wheat, which is not destined for milling to make bread or pasta.

“We have asked government to increase domestic demand for bioethanol through a simple change to regulation, and for the short term and affordable support we need until that demand materialises. So far, nothing has been forthcoming.

“The removal of tariffs on US ethanol, combined with ongoing regulatory obstacles, has left us unable to compete on a level playing field.

“As a result, we will have to scale back wheat purchasing to meet only our current contractual commitments.

“We still believe this situation can be turned around – but time is rapidly running out. With the right government action in the coming days we can save a vital green industry and protect thousands of livelihoods.”

A government spokesman responded: “We signed a deal with the US in the national interest to secure thousands of jobs across key sectors.

“We are now working closely with the industry to understand the impacts of the UK-US trade deal on the UK’s two bioethanol companies and are open to discussion over potential options for support.

“The Business Secretary has met members of the bioethanol sector and senior officials continue to consider what options may be available to support the impacted companies.”

The Vivergo Fuels plant can produce up to 420 million litres of bioethanol from over 1 million tonnes of feed grade wheat, not suitable for milling and making bread or pasta, sourced from thousands of farms mostly across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The plant is also the country’s largest single production site for animal feed, delivering up to 420,000 tonnes of high protein feed to over 800 farms across the UK.

Vivergo directly employs over 160 people. Vivergo Fuels was initially formed in 2007 as a joint venture between AB Sugar, BP and Du Pont, to create a biofuels business for the future.

In 2015 and 2017, AB Sugar respectively acquired BP and Du Pont’s share to become the sole shareholder of Vivergo Fuels. READ MORE

Excerpt from White House: National Corn Growers Association President Kenneth Hartman, Jr.: “This is great news. We applaud President Trump and his administration for brokering this deal, and we encourage them to continue to include corn, corn ethanol and corn co-products in future bilateral agreements with other countries.”

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Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor: “In terms of trade with the UK, the American ethanol industry had its best year ever last year of exports valued at over $535 million. This trade agreement puts us on track to set another record, all to the benefit of American farmers, biofuel producers, and UK consumers. We look forward to learning more, and finding new ways to help the UK achieve its economic and environmental goals through the increased use of American biofuels. We commend the President and his team for making this deal and creating new opportunities for American ethanol and rural America.”

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Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig: “A new trade deal with a key ally like the United Kingdom is great news and so I am very encouraged by President Trump’s announcement today. I am particularly pleased to hear the President tout expanded market access for ethanol, beef, and, as he put it, ‘virtually all the products produced by our great farmers’ … Today’s trade announcement demonstrates that there is real progress being made toward opening additional markets for Iowa products across the globe. I hope this deal is the first of many that will be announced with other trading partners in the coming weeks and months.”

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Rep. Don Bacon: “I congratulate @POTUS on striking a trade deal with the U.K. While we wait for the finer details of the agreement, including more than $700 million in ethanol exports and $250 million in other AG products like beef, every Nebraskan will surely feel it.”

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Rep. Ashley Hinson: “Huge win—and many more to come! @POTUS is fighting to right the wrongs of the past, return to fair trade, and build a more abundant America. Thank you for prioritizing new market opportunities for Iowa’s farmers and biofuels producers.”

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House Committee on Agriculture: “This announcement is a big win for American agriculture! @POTUS is unlocking billions in new market access for U.S. exports like beef, ethanol, and more—boosting our GREAT farmers and rural economies!” READ MORE