Efforts to relieve trade barriers between the United States and the European Union, which could benefit Louisiana and the Port of New Orleans, are getting complicated by turbulent politics in Europe, panelists said Tuesday at an event hosted by the World Trade Center of New Orleans.

Patrick Hugg, international law professor at Loyola University, described recent elections to the European Parliament that empowered some political extremists, with anti-immigration and anti-EU positions and tendencies to oppose globalization, corporations and the U.S.

Hugg called the election results “harrowing,” and he cited reports from Europe calling it a “political earthquake.”

“The parliament is going to be oriented in a way that frightens your European politicians,” and stifles individual countries’ leaders in pushing for new trade agreements, Hugg said.

The discussion Tuesday at the Westin Canal Place centered on ongoing efforts between the U.S. and the European Union to create what is called a “Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership,” or TTIP, reducing trade friction.

Joseph Weinberg, an international affairs professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, said such an agreement could bolster Louisiana’s economy by upping the volume of grains and other products that pass through the port and the exporting of oil, seafood, sugar and other goods produced in the state.

But he also described tricky scenarios that arise between countries, such as disagreements over protecting the use of regional names in marketing the authenticity of food products, including Parmesan, feta and Gruyere cheeses and Greek yogurt.

Weinberg also discussed differences in customers’ and governments’ expectations on how foods are produced, and the standards and regulations countries impose that affect whether and how American suppliers can sell their products in Europe. Agreeing on standards and regulations is one of many complicated aspect to trade negotiations, he said.

Despite all the friction, Hugg said he thinks the U.S. and the European Union still could reach a “modest TTIP,” which he said could bring economic benefits.

Other panelists raised more optimistic views, including John Hyatt, vice president of the New Orleans-based Irwin Brown Company, a customs broker and freight forwarder. Hyatt described increased activity by European companies in Louisiana accelerated in part by the ongoing natural gas boom.

And Adeline Hinderer Sayers, trade counselor for the EU Delegation to the United States, which co-sponsored Tuesday’s event, said she thinks political upheaval in Europe will have a greater influence on domestic politics there than on the relationship with the U.S.