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Dairy leaders want fair market access in TPP

Leadership of the National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) have sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack ahead of next week’s Trans Pacific Partnership meeting. The letter says access to foreign markets for U.S. dairy farmers and processors must be a top priority in any Pacific Rim trade agreement.

The groups contend dairy industries in other countries are counting on gaining access to the U.S. market without making any concessions on access to their markets. They point to the recent free trade agreement between Japan and Australia “which does little to open agricultural markets and instead aims to put the burden on the U.S. negotiators to win agricultural concessions for all in the TPP.”

National Milk CEO Jim Mulhern says “our competitors must work with their own governments to secure market access rather than insisting any gains made by the U.S. should be made available to all.”

Read the letter here: