Senators Urge USTR, USDA to Promote Dairy Sector in TPP
A group of more than 30 senators is urging the elimination of dairy sector trade barriers in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. In a March 14 letter to the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the senators said they are “concerned about the need to maintain current U.S. dairy exports to our TPP partners in the face of potential new barriers to trade.”
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The letter said that without open access to Canada and significant policy reform by New Zealand, there will be no increased export demand from the TPP. The senators, including New York Democrat and Finance Committee member Charles Schumer, also want the TPP to address restrictive sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. “Too often, safe U.S. food products are confronted with sudden and unscientific barriers in foreign markets,” the letter said. The TPP should address that problem while still upholding high science-based health standards, the letter said.
In a statement, Schumer said “Upstate New York’s dairy farmers are the leaders in a burgeoning U.S. industry, and we must protect these hard-working New Yorkers against unfair regulations from countries like Canada and a dairy monopoly in New Zealand that could hinder their market expansion. Capitalizing on the popularity of Upstate New York dairy products such as Greek yogurt, our federal government must promote every opportunity to continue growing a stable global market for New York farmers.”