NMPF Strengthening Ties with USTR
April 4, 2023
A series of March meetings between NMPF staff and new U.S. Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip is strengthening ties with the critical agency for U.S dairy exports, with NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern and others sharing industry priorities.
Officially confirmed by the Senate late last year, Amb. McKalip is U.S. agriculture’s top advocate at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and a critical ally to America’s dairy industry. Mulhern sat down with Amb. McKalip over dinner to talk over dairy trade challenges and opportunities on March 1.
Two days later, Trade Policy Manager Tony Rice joined the U.S. Agricultural Coalition for World Trade Organization (WTO) Reform in a meeting with Ambassador McKalip to discuss dairy priorities in the context of the WTO’s Ministerial Conference taking place early next year. Finally, those conversations were followed by an in-depth, policy-focused dialogue with NMPF trade policy leaders Jaime Castaneda and Shawna Morris on March 9.
NMPF also worked with congressional allies to support their preparations for questioning U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during trade oversight hearings held by the Senate Finance Committee on March 23 and the House Ways and Means Committee on March 24, pressing Amb. Tai to pursue market-liberalizing opportunities for U.S. agriculture and removal of nontariff barriers to dairy exports, including the EU’s aggressive campaign to monopolize common cheese names.
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