NMPF Helps Secure Market Access Gains in Asia
November 5, 2025
NMPF’s ongoing advocacy bore fruit in October with new trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia that include strong market access provisions, along with opportunities to extend similar benefits to Thailand and Vietnam, that together open new doors for U.S. dairy in Southeast Asia’s growing markets.
The trade deals better position the United States to compete with global suppliers such as the EU, New Zealand and Australia. “With these new agreements, the administration has delivered big wins for America’s dairy farmers,” Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF, said in a statement celebrating the agreements.
The agreements deliver meaningful, concrete results for U.S. dairy exporters:
- The Malaysia agreement eliminates nearly all remaining dairy tariffs, creates a new tariff rate quota for fluid milk exports, recognizes the U.S. dairy safety system and streamlines facility registration and certification requirements, all long-standing priorities highlighted and championed by NMPF.
- The Cambodia agreement achieves similar gains, including a complete elimination of tariffs on U.S. dairy exports and a prohibition on future facility listing requirements that could block trade. Both agreements also include a groundbreaking new model for protecting common food names. The frameworks with Vietnam and Thailand lay out the foundation for similar progress ahead, outlining commitments to address tariffs and regulatory barriers that have challenged U.S. competitiveness in those key markets.
NMPF was able to leave its fingerprints on the agreements through its access to negotiations and longstanding efforts in these markets, coordinating with the U.S. Dairy Export Council. NMPF staff, along with NMPF member Dairy Farmers of America’s Michael Lichte, serve as cleared advisors to the U.S. negotiating team, providing critical technical input on agreement text and dairy priorities.
Earlier this year, NMPF also provided the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and USDA with a detailed, market-by-market analysis outlining tariff disparities, key interests and non-tariff barriers, which helped shape the U.S. approach to negotiations.
NMPF’s persistent advocacy helped make these results possible—from elevating the challenges caused by changing certification rules and facility registration requirements, to defending fair use of common food names, to highlighting competitive disadvantages facing exporters, to emphasizing Southeast Asia’s strategic importance through congressional testimony, public comments, and direct engagement with U.S. officials.
