NMPF, USDEC Respond to International Trade Commission’s economic impact analysis of Trans-Pacific Partnership

May 19, 2016

CONTACTS:

Mark O'Keefe, USDEC
PHONE: (703) 528-4812

Chris Galen, NMPF
PHONE: (703) 243-6111
FAX: 703-841-9328
cgalen@nmpf.org

Joint statement from Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, and Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation

ARLINGTON, VA -- “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a historic pact. If properly implemented and enforced, on balance the agreement will represent a step forward for the U.S. dairy industry based on its improvements to the rules of the road governing trade among the 12 signatories. In addition, although the market access portion of the agreement fell short of the export opportunities our industry sought to secure, our economic analysis concluded that overall the TPP dairy market access provisions will be neutral to slightly positive.

“Included in the deal are ground-breaking new commitments on sanitary and phytosanitary issues and significant improvements in how geographical indications are handled. The geographical indications improvements have become especially important as the European Union continues to wield GIs as nontariff trade barriers and limit market access for U.S. dairy exporters.

“But the benefits of the TPP can only be realized if the United States assures that signatories live up to their commitments under the agreement as well as their prior trade obligations. The TPP can only support the continued growth of our industry if the U.S. ensures that TPP advances U.S. dairy prospects compared to the status quo at the time of its conclusion, and that its provisions are fully implemented and aggressively enforced.”

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The U.S. Dairy Export Council 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. www.usdec.org.

The National Milk Producers Federation, 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.