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USTR Review of Indonesia Trade Arrangement Secures Benefits for U.S. Dairy

CONTACTS:

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

Theresa Sweeney-Murphy, NMPF
PHONE: (559) 553-5895

Arlington, VA - The U.S. dairy industry commended the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for using its review of Indonesia’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status to hold Indonesia accountable for issues that had threatened the smooth flow of U.S. dairy exports. USTR announced yesterday the conclusion of its review of Indonesia’s eligibility to continue receiving preferential tariff access to the U.S. market under the GSP program.   

“The U.S. dairy industry and all of its supplying dairy farmers rely on the enforcement of fair trade rules. We appreciate the work invested by the U.S. government to use the GSP review process to ensure that Indonesia complies with its trade obligations under the terms of the GSP program,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF).   

“This outcome demonstrates how the GSP review process can be utilized to scrutinize a country’s compliance with the program and to achieve improvements in U.S. market access where changes are needed. We look forward to working with both governments to ensure that all U.S. exporters eager to ship to Indonesia have the ability to do so smoothly.” 

NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) were among the organizations that originally filed a complaint with USTR regarding Indonesia’s GSP compliance in 2018, citing its law mandating local partnership arrangements in order to secure import licenses. In response to dairy’s concerns raised through the GSP process, Indonesia removed that requirement.    

“We appreciate USTR ensuring that Indonesia meet its market access obligations under the GSP review process. Through that process, USTR helped address Indonesian policies that had endangered U.S. dairy exports to Indonesia, one of our largest markets. The government of Indonesia has been responsive to these concerns, and we look forward to building further upon this positive development,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC.    

The U.S. dairy industry exported $238 million in dairy products to Indonesia in 2019, making it the seventh largest market for U.S. dairy exports. That represents an increase of 80% percent by value from 2017. With a potential for even greater growth for U.S. dairy in this key market, it’s important that U.S. products can flow smoothly. 

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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 (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.