As USDEC has reported to members, the United States and European Union (EU) plan to begin negotiations in a few months on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. If successfully negotiated, this will provide the United States with the opportunity to tackle the many non-tariff barriers that hinder U.S. dairy exports to the EU as well as to gain additional market access through tariff reductions. 

In preparation for those negotiations, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is requesting input on market priorities and barriers to trade. USDEC will be providing comments on those topics. In order to ensure that our comments fully reflect USDEC members’ market access priorities and concerns regarding nontariff barriers, we are requesting input from you. 

By Friday, April 19, please send comments on the following to Shawna Morris (smorris@usdec.org): 

• Priority products to focus on with respect to tariff reductions and tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) quantities during the period of tariff phase-outs.
  • Wherever possible, please include the relevant tariff line for your product to help ensure we are appropriately focusing efforts on the identified products. The USDEC Export Guide provides EU tariff schedule information. 
• Information on non-tariff barriers to trade or any EU policies that make trade difficult, costly or complicated.
  • Details on the specific nature of the problem are needed as well as any recommendations members wish to offer regarding improvements to the system.
  • For example, TRQ administration policies, quota licensing procedures, tariff calculations for processed dairy products, EU-required compliance measures such as somatic cell count procedures, etc.