Dairy Groups Urge Exclusion of U.S., New Zealand Dairy Trade in Trans-Pacific Agreement
January 6, 2010
Dairy Groups Urge Exclusion of U.S., New Zealand Dairy Trade in Trans-Pacific Agreement
U.S. dairy producers and exporters urged the government to exclude any dairy-related changes in the trade relationship between the United States and New Zealand as part of a new free trade agreement between the countries.
In a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) reaffirmed their commitment to seek full exclusion of trade in dairy products between the United States and New Zealand under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement, because of the New Zealand dairy industry’s unique structure and excessive degree of control over dairy markets globally and in the United States.
Kirk notified Congress in December that President Obama intended to enter into negotiations of a regional Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the TPP, which would create a new free trade pact that would include seven other nations: Australia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Brunei, Vietnam and New Zealand. The United States already has trade agreements with these countries, except for New Zealand, Vietnam, and Brunei.
New Zealand is the world’s largest dairy exporter, and benefits tremendously from the virtual dairy monopoly that currently exists there, whereby one company controls more than 90% of the country’s milk production.
“NMPF and USDEC firmly believe in the value of balanced trade agreements in reducing and ultimately eliminating [global] trade distortions,” the two organizations wrote. “This is why we have strongly supported the vast majority of FTAs pursued by the United States over the years, and it is why we also support the three FTAs currently pending congressional approval…as this Administration focuses on growing our competitiveness in Asia, we urge USTR to focus strongly on the agreement already in hand: the U.S.-South Korea FTA.”
