Emmanuel Macron's re-election in France means his effort for 'mirror clauses' in EU trade policy will continue.

Under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, President Macron pushed for importing countries outside the EU to mirror or match production standards, environmental practices and workers rights.

However these rules faced kickback from EU nations keen to follow a free trade policy with reduced barriers for imports. A report on the legal concerns raised by mirror clauses with the World Trade Organisations is due to be published this summer.

Rules for European farmers are likely to increase the cost of production as the next CAP reform takes a greater focus on the environmental and climate change. The European Commission has also announced two pesticide reduction targets by 2030. This is putting pressure on politicians to prevent European farmers being undercut by imports from countries which are producing food to different standards.

Currently most of the UK's food continues to be produced under the same rules as the EU. However if the UK's production standards diverge from the EU then market access could be an issue in years to come.