The U.S. dairy industry advised top U.S. government agricultural trade negotiators that their efforts on any final Pacific Rim free trade agreement must put access to foreign markets for U.S. dairy farmers and processors first, and avoid pressure from other countries to regionalize all new market access opportunities in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) made the point in letters sent today to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

As TPP negotiations head into their final stage, the dairy organizations expressed concern that industries in competing countries are counting on the United States to deliver export gains for all, rather than relying on their own governments to secure concessions in the trade agreement. “It is crucial,” USDEC President Tom Suber said, “for the U.S. to prioritize delivery of benefits to our dairy industry, not other TPP countries.”

As a case in point, the three groups cited the recently concluded Japan-Australia FTA, which does little to open agricultural markets and instead aims to put the burden on U.S. negotiators to win agricultural concessions for all in the TPP.

“The Japan-Australia FTA is an excellent example of the negative impact such a dynamic can have on U.S. interests,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF President and CEO. “Our competitors in other TPP countries must work with their own governments to secure market access rather than insisting that any gains secured by the U.S. in challenging areas such as agriculture be made broadly available to all.”

The dairy organizations applauded U.S. efforts to gain market access through TPP for U.S. dairy products in countries including Japan and Canada. They stressed that no tariff line should be left untouched in this agreement.

“We believe the negotiators will continue to push forward and leave no stone unturned in their negotiations with Japan and Canada,” said Connie Tipton, IDFA president and CEO.

The joint letter was sent in advance of a key meeting of the chief TPP negotiators in Washington next week. A copy of the letter follows.

###

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, Va., develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of U.S. dairy producers and the cooperatives they collectively own. The members of NMPF's cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S, milk supply, making NMPF the voice of nearly 32,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more on NMPF's activities, visit www.nmpf.org.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. The U.S. Dairy Export Council prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, marital status, military status, and arrest or conviction record.

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies representing a $125 billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's 220 dairy processing members run more than 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found at www.idfa.org

December 4, 2014

On behalf of America’s dairy industry, the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) would like to underscore our belief in the importance of successfully concluding a strong Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. USDEC, NMPF and IDFA recognize the significant efforts that you and your teams have devoted to TPP and most recently to the extensive work underway to bring these long-running negotiations to a close.

We firmly believe that it is time to conclude a TPP agreement that contains comprehensive market access for U.S. dairy exporters in both the Japanese and Canadian markets. No tariff line should be left untouched in a successful Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. As our organizations have previously detailed, other areas of TPP are also of critical importance to a successful dairy outcome in these negotiations; our focus in this communication is on just one of those very important pillars.

As USTR and USDA continue their negotiations with Japan and Canada, we would like to underscore the importance of ensuring that those talks prioritize delivery of benefits to the U.S. dairy industry, not other TPP trading partners. Industries in other TPP countries may wish to put the onus on the U.S. to deliver export gains for their sectors rather than relying on their own governments to secure market access concessions from key trading partners in this agreement. The Japan-Australia FTA is an unfortunate example of the negative impact such a dynamic can have on U.S. interests and on TPP overall.

Our competitors in other TPP countries must work with their own governments to secure market access packages acceptable to them rather than simply insisting that any U.S. gains that may be achieved through complex negotiations, especially in challenging areas such as dairy, must be made available to all. This principle is particularly important with respect to other TPP countries that have already recently negotiated their own agreements with key markets such as Japan and Canada and now hope to have a second chance to improve those outcomes due to U.S. efforts.

We applaud your industrious efforts to achieve ambitious outcomes in each of the key dairy priority areas. We urge you to continue to push hard and leave no stone unturned in your negotiations with Japan and Canada. In the same vein, other TPP countries, particularly our major competitors in the region should fully embrace their obligations to similarly negotiate their own agreements. 

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Suber

President

U.S. Dairy Export Council

Jim Mulhern

President & CEO

National Milk Producers Federation

Connie Tipton

President and CEO

International Dairy Foods Association