World Trade Organization

Dairy Groups Submit Joint Comments on Chinese WTO Compliance: September 22, 2009

In reponse to a request by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for private sector input, NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) sumbitted these comments relating to China’s compliance with its WTO commitments.

 

While Disappointed in Fate of WTO Talks, NMPF & USDEC Praise U.S. Trade Negotiators’ Pursuit of Equity from Trading Partners: July 29, 2008

In this press release, Jaime Castaneda - Senior Vice President and Senior Trade Policy Advisor of NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) - issued a response to the outcome of the latest round of WTO talks in Geneva. Read the full press release here.

 

Letter to USTR Ambassador Schwab: July 15, 2008

This letter was sent by NMPF to U.S. Trade Ambassador Susan Schwab containing the thanks of NMPF members for the hard work USTR has put forth at the WTO Doha Round. It also noted key elements that a final agreement must contain in order to be supported by NMPF's dairy cooperatives. Read the full letter here.

 

Letter to President Bush: July 14, 2008

In the midst of the Doha negotiations, commodity groups (including NMPF) sent a joint letter to President Bush urging him of the need for a balanced deal. Read the full letter here.

 

Letter to President Bush: October 5, 2007

This letter was sent to President Bush from several commodity groups, including NMPF expressing our concern regarding the direction of the WTO talks. Read the full letter here.

 

Letter to USTR Ambassador Schwab: May 31, 2007

At the end of April, the Chairman of the WTO Agriculture Negotiating Committee, Crawford Falconer, issued a "challenge paper" intended to spur forward movement in the WTO Doha Round negotiations. This paper focused on several of the key areas of discussion, including specific topics within the realms of export competition, market access and domestic support. Ambassador Falconer attempted to narrow down the range of ideas currently on the table to those that he felt remained within the realm of possibility, given various countries' key goals and sensitivities. He also offered suggestions in some areas about potential paths forward.

NMPF and several other agricultural organizations wrote a letter to Ambassador Schwab regarding the letter. Read the full letter here.

 

U.S. WTO Case Against Canada

Background: In 1995, the Canadian government established a two-tier pricing system in which processors paid higher prices for milk used domestically and lower prices for milk used for exports. Canada argued that the discounts applied to exports were not an export subsidy, and therefore not subject to the limits agreed upon in the Uruguay Round. With Canadian exporters undercutting U.S. exporters in key overseas markets and the risk of other countries adopting similar schemes and significantly undermining the Uruguay Round Agreement, the United States challenged Canada's export subsidy scheme to the World Trade Organization (WTO), at the request of the industry, in October 1997.

Conclusion: The U.S. dairy industry has fought long and hard to facilitate a victory in its challenge of Canada's actions. The final WTO ruling in favor of the United States, coupled with the decision at the end of 2003 by the Ontario Provincial government, has allowed U.S. producers, processors and exporters to regain markets lost to Canada in previous years. Beyond those specific gains, this case has broad implications for the future of international dairy trade. For instance, the WTO's 1999 ruling against Canada discouraged the European Union and other countries from adopting similar circumvention schemes.

This case has been critical in clarifying the WTO rules in order to understand what is permissible in this country, as well as what may need to be negotiated in the current agricultural negotiations of the Doha Work Program.