What the investigation found

An investigation by the campaign group Mighty Earth concludes that US corporate lobbyists ran a two-year "blitz" to postpone and weaken the EU deforestation law, described in the report as the world's most progressive forest-protection legislation. The campaign, it says, involved more than 350 meetings by companies and trade bodies seeking to influence the EUDR.

Mighty Earth identified 24 major US organisations that discussed the regulation in at least 173 meetings with members of the European parliament and 178 meetings with senior European Commission officials between July 2024 and July 2026.

• The National Alliance of Forest Owners and the Advanced Woody Biomass Alliance logged the highest number of Commission meetings among trade bodies.
• Bunge and Cargill each met the Commission once or twice, with Mondelēz holding eight meetings.
• Other frequent participants were the US Soybean Export Council and the American Chamber of Commerce.
• Mighty Earth also counts contacts via the US Congress, the Department of Agriculture, the Office of the US Trade Representative and the White House.

What the law bans and how it was diluted

The EUDR prohibits imports of commodities such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood grown on deforested land. Then environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius called it "the most ambitious legislative attempt to tackle these issues worldwide ever".

Implementation has been delayed twice, and the tracing goal has been revised so much that some of the law's initial supporters claimed the policy has been in effect "dismantled". Lobbyists from many countries, including Brazil and several EU nations, are known to have contributed to this dilution.

The Trump–von der Leyen statement

Donald Trump met Ursula von der Leyen at a Scottish golf course in July 2025. A joint statement issued two weeks later held out special treatment for the US on the EUDR, saying the EU would work "to address the concerns of US producers and exporters regarding EUDR, with a view to avoiding undue impact on US-EU trade". The commission also stated the US "poses negligible risk to global deforestation".

Earlier in 2026, Trump administration officials toured EU capitals arguing that the added compliance expense would discourage US producers from selling into the European market. The US ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, wrote that "it will impose significant regulatory compliance costs while producing inconsequential environmental benefit".

How industry and the campaigners respond

US industry representatives deny there was a concerted campaign to derail the deforestation rules, saying the meetings raised legitimate implementation concerns.

AmCham EU said it had raised concerns about shortcomings in the IT system and about company obligations it considered unclear.

"AmCham EU has consistently supported the EUDR's objective of tackling global deforestation and promoting sustainable supply chains", the group said. The US Soybean Export Council said: "USSEC does not seek delay or exemption; rather we favour a transition period" as the regulation comes into force. Bunge pointed to full farm-level traceability it says it has reached for direct and indirect soy purchases in priority parts of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Requests for comment to Cargill and Mondelēz drew no on-the-record reply.

Isabel Fernandez, a senior adviser at Mighty Earth, described "a relentless and aggressive campaign by major US businesses, trade bodies and government officials", saying the lobbying reached President Trump and that some lobbying companies remain linked to illegal forest clearing for commodities such as soy.

The group called on the EU to adopt greater transparency about lobbying activities and to give civil society more access, to ensure balance in the process.

The EU deforestation law is due to come into effect in December.