Tag: dairy trade
NMPF Prompts U.S. Investigation into Global Nonfat Milk Solids
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced an investigation on May 20 into global nonfat milk solids competitiveness for the United States and other major suppliers, including Canada, after extensive NMPF and U.S. Dairy Export Council advocacy for a probe.
The announcement followed an April 23 letter from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) requesting a formal Section 332 investigation into global suppliers’ pricing and trade practices for products with high levels of nonfat milk solids, including casein, caseinates, lactose, skim milk powder, and milk protein concentrates and isolates.
NMPF and USDEC have been closely monitoring a notable spike in certain nonfat milk solid exports from Canada following 2020 implementation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). USMCA included rules on Canadian exports of skim milk powder, milk protein concentrates and infant formula that imposed higher penalty rates on exports that exceed a volume threshold. USMCA introduced these measures to curb Canada’s propensity to offload excess nonfat milk solids onto global markets at artificially low prices.
However, data shared by NMPF with USTR suggest Canada has sidestepped these obligations by shifting dairy protein production and exports to other product categories that evade the USMCA export disciplines. In meetings and written communications to both the current administration and the previous one, NMPF has urged USTR to address this behavior, which harms American dairy producers both domestically and abroad.
ITC’s 11-month investigation will evaluate Canadian and other global suppliers’ nonfat milk solids competitiveness to determine if any pricing or trade practices violate international trade rules. NMPF and USDEC will actively support the investigation and continue to insist on changes in Canada’s actions.
House-Passed Budget Reconciliation Package Advances NMPF Priorities
House Republicans took key steps in May that advanced dairy policy priorities including several key farm bill items, approving President Donald Trump’s budget plan using the reconciliation process.
The full House voted to pass the large fiscal package on May 22 by a vote of 215-214. Reconciliation allows Congress to enact tax and mandatory spending legislation via a simple majority in both the House and Senate, bypassing the filibuster process in the Senate that makes it more difficult for partisan legislation to pass.
The House Agriculture Committee’s portion of the bill, passed by the committee on May 14, included multiple NMPF-backed priorities that would boost the agricultural economy and provide farmers certainty.
Relevant provisions included:
- Extending the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program through 2031; updating DMC’s production history for participating dairies to be based on the highest production year of 2021, 2022, or 2023; and extending the ability for producers to receive a 25% premium discount for locking in five years of coverage;
- Providing mandatory funding for USDA to conduct mandatory plant cost studies every two years to provide better data to inform future make allowance conversations;
- Folding the remaining Inflation Reduction Act conservation dollars into the farm bill baseline, resulting in increased long-term funding for popular, oversubscribed programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program;
- Doubling funding for critical dairy trade promotion programs that return well over $20 in export revenue for every one dollar invested in the programs; and
- Increasing funding for animal health programs that help to prevent, control, and eradicate animal diseases, such as the outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cattle.
The House Ways and Means Committee also adopted the tax portion of the bill on May 14. The tax package includes critical NMPF-backed language to make the Section 199A tax deduction permanent, which will allow dairy cooperatives to continue either passing the deduction back to their farmer owners or reinvesting it in their cooperatives.
“Whether it’s risk management or tax issues, the stakes are enormous for Congress to get the policy right in this legislation,” said NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud. “House committees have done good work this week to start major elements of this bill on the right track for dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own.”
The budget reconciliation process now moves forward to the U.S. Senate, where NMPF will push to preserve the agricultural resources and tax policy gains included in the House bill. The Senate is likely to continue the process on the bill when Congress reconvenes in June.
Taking On EU Dairy Malfeasance is Welcome — and Long Overdue
President Trump’s tariff measures toward trading partners across the world sends a clear signal to trading partners: The United States is no longer going to stand for shenanigans that lead to unlevel playing fields. That’s especially true in dairy. And within dairy, the European Union stands apart as an example of shenanigans in action. If the president’s tariffs spur the negotiations that place their policies within the realm of reality and fairness, the effort will be worthwhile.
American farmers have long voiced their concerns about the unfairness of the EU’s agricultural trade policies, arguing that these policies create significant challenges for them in the global marketplace. Some facts: In 1980, the US exported $12 billion in agricultural products to the 27 current members of the European Union. That $12 billion was the high-water mark until 2023. We’ve gone almost 45 years bouncing in a range of between $6 billion and $12 billion annually to the European Union — accounting for zero export growth since the Carter administration. Meanwhile, the trade deficit in agricultural products is growing, and gaping: $23.6 billion at last count.
Now look at dairy trade. The U.S. imports $3 billion in dairy from the European Union — and exports $167 million. We export more cheese to New Zealand, a major dairy exporter with a population of 5 million people — or roughly the same population as Ireland, Slovakia or Norway.
That’s pathetic.
Why do we have that gap, and how do we close it?
From more than 30 years of dealing with EU agriculture, the answer to the first part is simply this: The EU is reflexively protectionist in agriculture. The U.S. “beef hormone” case against the EU, which dates to the 1980s, is a classic example: The U.S. won. The EU has never complied.
The EU Farm to Fork Initiative, all the certification requirements and protocols, everything that requires processes in the EU, all of it is designed to keep ag imports out. The EU approach to common cheese names like “parmesan” — making it impossible for Americans to sell their products as what they actually are — is a crowning example of the creative, and inappropriate, use of non-tariff barriers to protect their market.
And none of that even touches on the subsidies the Europeans lavish on their farmers, and the schemes they use to push their products at low prices on global markets, ensuring that U.S. farmers repeatedly struggle with unfair competition as they build their own relationships via high-quality, affordable products.
Any effort to close this gap is long overdue; the Trump administration’s strategy starts this process and squarely puts the focus — and the pressure — where it should be: On Brussels, which has artificially created this lopsided trade imbalance and needs to take tangible steps to level the playing field.
In my three decades of experience, the European Union has proven impossible to deal with in agriculture — but if the president stays steady and forceful on EU tariffs, we may finally get their attention. We have no problem with the president hiking tariffs on EU imports higher to drive them to the table — the current ones are a bargain for the EU, considering the highly restrictive barriers the EU imposes on our dairy exporters. And if Europe retaliates against the United States, the administration should respond swiftly and strongly in kind by raising tariffs yet further on European cheeses and butter.
Much has been written about the president’s aggressive stances toward traditional allies such as the EU, questioning the wisdom of taking on our “friends.” But with friends like these, who needs enemies? Relationships are reciprocal, and fairness is the foundation of goodwill. There has been no fairness from the EU toward American farmers — for decades.
All that said, hope remains that American dairy can finally make real progress through productive negotiations. This administration can help achieve a level playing field for U.S. dairy producers by tackling the EU’s numerous tariff and nontariff trade barriers that bog down our exports. It can create a brighter future for U.S. dairy trade — and build hope among farmers who know that the administration is listening to them, and now the world as well.
As the administration moves forward with negotiations, we’re hoping for swiftly negotiated, constructive outcomes. We will do whatever we can to help break this decades-old logjam that has hurt U.S. farmers and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. The field is wide open, and we are poised for progress.
Gregg Doud
President & CEO, NMPF
NMPF Capitalizes on U.S. Tariff Leverage to Advance Dairy
NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) held strategic meetings throughout April to improve access to key foreign markets as the Trump Administration attempts to negotiate new terms with U.S. trading partners following its April 2 reciprocal tariff plan announcement.
- Taiwan: Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy Jaime Castaneda and Trade Policy Director Tony Rice, together with the California Milk Advisory Board, traveled to Taiwan from March 31 to April 3 for meetings on dairy market access. The group met with Taiwanese trade and agricultural ministry officials, importers, the U.S. and Taiwanese chambers of commerce, among others, to highlight Taiwan’s dairy tariff disparity between the United States and New Zealand and seek prioritization of tariff relief through the newly commenced U.S.-Taiwan trade negotiations.
- Japan: Castaneda hosted Yoichi Watanabe, Vice Minister of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on April 14 to discuss U.S. dairy trade priorities in the context of U.S.-Japan negotiations. American dairy exporters secured expanded access for certain products under the U.S.-Japan Phase One Agreement signed in 2019, but NMPF is seeking further tariff elimination and quota expansion for a range of dairy products in the new set of negotiations.
- Indonesia: Executive Vice President for Trade Policy & Global Affairs Shawna Morris shared U.S. dairy priorities in an April 24 meeting with a member of the Indonesian Parliament and the Senior Vice President of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce. She also joined NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud, USDEC President and CEO Krysta Harden and additional USDEC staff in a subsequent meeting with additional Indonesian Chamber of Commerce delegation members on May 2. The conversations focused on NMPF’s goals for tariff reductions and resolving long-standing challenges associated with Indonesia’s dairy facility listing requirements. During that May 2 meeting NMPF and USDEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce which commits the organizations to work collaboratively to enhance U.S.-Indonesia trade relationships, including through the use of U.S. dairy products to meet Indonesia’s growing dairy needs.
Castaneda and Morris continue to communicate U.S. dairy trade priorities with the administration as cleared confidential advisors to ensure tariff and nontariff barriers to dairy trade are prioritized in the ongoing negotiations.
USTR Calls Out Misuse of Geographical Indications as Major Trade Barrier
The Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN), National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) said they appreciated the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) decision to spotlight protection of common food names in the agency’s 2025 Special 301 Report released today.
The annual report outlines major global intellectual property concerns. It highlighted the European Union’s persistent campaign to monopolize common names—such as “parmesan” and “feta”— through protectionist geographical indication (GI) policies. These efforts restrict the use of widely recognized food and beverage terms to only specific European producers and effectively cut U.S. producers out of certain key markets.
“The European Union’s approach to geographical indications is entirely unacceptable. It intentionally crowds out fair competition by restricting market access for U.S. and international producers,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of CCFN. “Too many trading partners have been coerced into imposing trade barriers for products using common food and beverage names. We appreciate USTR’s ongoing recognition of this issue but urge the U.S. government to stop trading partners to succumbing to European pressures and imposing trade barriers on U.S. products.”
“Europe’s misuse of geographical indications is nothing more than a trade barrier dressed up as intellectual property protection,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “It not only unfairly strips American producers of the right to use common, widely understood terms, but significantly handcuffs commercial export opportunities. We welcome USTR’s focus on this issue and appreciate the administration’s dedication to protecting U.S. market access rights.”
“Last year, the United States imported nearly $3 billion more in dairy products from the European Union than we exported to Europe. Europe’s abuse of the GI system is a significant reason for that deficit,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “EU GI schemes create a two-tiered system that benefits European producers and stamps out competition. We appreciate that USTR is addressing this unfair practice and look forward to continuing to work together to level the playing field for U.S. dairy producers.”
CCFN submitted comments to the agency in January, which broke down the many markets where U.S. dairy producers’ common name rights are being threatened. NMPF and USDEC filed supporting comments noting the urgency for action to address this pressing trade barrier. CCFN Senior Director Shawna Morris built on those comments at a Feb. 19 USTR hearing, where she underlined how the EU misuses geographical indications and why it’s imperative for the U.S. government to match the EU’s efforts on common names.
NMPF’s Morris Assesses Dairy Impact of New Import Tariffs
NMPF’s executive vice president Shawna Morris assesses how the U.S. dairy sector could be impacted by the new tariffs imposed against imports by the Trump Administration, and how foreign countries may in turn raise their own tariffs against American exports.
NMPF, USDEC Call for Targeted Tariffs, Trade Negotiations
Dairy leaders called for a targeted approach to tariffs and an emphasis on positive negotiations with most trading partners as the Trump Administration moved ahead with a plan for stepped-up tariffs worldwide on Tuesday.
“Tariffs can be a useful tool for negotiating fairer terms of trade,” said NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud in a joint statement with U.S. Dairy Export Council President & CEO Krysta Harden released earlier today. “We are glad to see the administration focusing on long-time barriers to trade that the European Union and India have imposed on our exports. The administration has rightly noted both countries’ penchants for restricting sales of American products.
“In fact, 20% reciprocal tariffs are a bargain for the EU considering the highly restrictive tariff and nontariff barriers the EU imposes on our dairy exporters,” Doud continued. “If Europe retaliates against the United States, we encourage the administration to respond strongly by raising tariffs on European cheeses and butter. We also appreciate the President’s recognition of the sizable barriers facing U.S. dairy exports into the Canadian market.
“Through productive negotiations, this administration can help achieve a level playing field for U.S. dairy producers by tackling the numerous tariff and nontariff trade barriers that bog down our exports,” Doud said. “As the administration moves forward with negotiations on these tariffs, we encourage prioritizing getting back to fully open trade with U.S. FTA partners, targeting actors who have long put up entrenched barriers to American exports, and swiftly negotiating constructive outcomes with those we know are working for a long-term, fruitful relationship with American farmers.”
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will impose a baseline 10 percent additional tariff on imports from all countries later this week, with a higher additional tariff taking effect next week on dozens of other countries the United States believes have the most unfair trade relationships with the U.S.
The new duties include a 34 percent tariff on China, 26 percent on India, 26 percent on South Korea, 24 percent on Japan and 20 percent on the European Union. Canada and Mexico, the two largest U.S. dairy trade partners, are currently exempted from the latest round of tariffs because both countries’ non-USMCA-compliant products already are subject to 25 percent tariffs that Trump imposed, then largely suspended, last month.
Targeted Use of Tariffs and Robust Negotiations Essential to Successful Results
Leaders from the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) released the following statements today in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
“Tariffs can be a useful tool for negotiating fairer terms of trade. To that end, we are glad to see the administration focusing on long-time barriers to trade that the European Union and India have imposed on our exports. The administration has rightly noted both countries’ penchants for restricting sales of American products,” said Gregg Doud, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “In fact, 20% reciprocal tariffs are a bargain for the EU considering the highly restrictive tariff and nontariff barriers the EU imposes on our dairy exporters. If Europe retaliates against the United States, we encourage the Administration to respond strongly by raising tariffs on European cheeses and butter. We also appreciate the President’s recognition of the sizable barriers facing U.S. dairy exports into the Canadian market.
Through productive negotiations, this administration can help achieve a level playing field for U.S. dairy producers by tackling the numerous tariff and nontariff trade barriers that bog down our exports. As the administration moves forward with negotiations on these tariffs, we encourage prioritizing getting back to fully open trade with U.S. FTA partners, targeting actors who have long put up entrenched barriers to American exports, and swiftly negotiating constructive outcomes with those we know are working for a long-term fruitful relationship with American farmers.”
“President Trump’s commitment to addressing certain unfair and harmful trade policies that American dairy farmers and manufacturers have long faced in the global marketplace can yield positive results if the tariffs announced today are used as leverage to remedy the various trade barriers facing our exporters,” said Krysta Harden, President and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “A firm hand and decisive approach to driving changes is most needed with the European Union and India to correct their distortive trade policies and mistreatment of American agriculture including both imbalanced tariff barriers and nontariff choke-points such as the misuse of Geographical Indications to block sales of our cheeses.
The strong majority of our trading partner relationships are positive ones; this includes many of the countries that will see higher tariffs imposed on them. We encourage the administration to work swiftly with these constructive partners to negotiate new trading terms that expand opportunities for U.S. exports and secure the elimination of both tariff and non-tariff barriers.”
NMPF Urges Strategic Tariff Approach by U.S. Government
NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) submitted Mar. 11 joint comments to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) responding to the administration’s request for information on unfair trade practices that it should examine under its “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” on tariffs.
In addition to laying out prioritized bilateral dairy trade measures among 21 countries and regions, NMPF and USDEC advocated for a collaborative approach with most trading partners to achieve the government’s national security and economic goals through targeted trade policy measures and negotiations.
NMPF and USDEC made clear in the joint comments that most U.S. dairy trading partnerships are positive and productive, adding that the administration’s new trade approach should focus on addressing high-priority tariff and non-tariff barriers through negotiations to improve export opportunities for American dairy and agriculture producers.
One partner requiring a more confrontational approach to drive real reforms, however, is the European Union. The joint comments detail the outrageous trade imbalance between the United States and the European Union and outlined the unreasonable European trade policies driving this disparity.
Complementing this message, NMPF, USDEC and the Consortium for Common Food Names submitted a second set of in-depth comments on the European Union’s ongoing campaign to misuse geographical indications around the world to monopolize generic terms like “parmesan” at the expense of U.S. competitors. Both sets of comments are informing USTR’s trade policy recommendations to President Trump. The administration has indicated its plan to implement reciprocal tariffs, which could be enacted as early as today.
USDEC and NMPF Sign Partnership with Guatemalan Dairy Association
The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), and Guatemalan Dairy Development Association (ASODEL), signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday that will strengthen ties between the U.S. and Guatemalan dairy industries as they advocate for free and fair trade policies and promote greater dairy consumption.
The agreement outlines objectives aimed at strengthening communication and knowledge-sharing between the two industries, underscoring the economic and social significance of the dairy sector, and addressing trade barriers that negatively impact both producers and consumers alike.
The agreement outlines objectives aimed at strengthening communication and knowledge-sharing between the two industries, underscoring the economic and social significance of the dairy sector, and addressing trade barriers that negatively impact both producers and consumers alike.
“This agreement marks an important milestone in the U.S. dairy industry’s ongoing dedication to collaborating with and supporting our partners in Guatemala and throughout Latin America,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “A strong trade relationship benefits both U.S. and Guatemalan dairy sectors, and it’s clear that imposing misguided trade barriers harms everyone, particularly Guatemalan consumers. We are excited to work together to continue to build a strong partnership between our two industries.”
“The U.S. and Guatemalan dairy sectors share values and common goals,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with ASODEL to champion effective, forward-thinking policies that will strengthen the dairy industry in the Americas and globally.”
“ASODEL is dedicated to improving the competitiveness and long-term viability of the Guatemala dairy industry,” said Ramiro Pérez, director general of ASODEL. “This collaboration with USDEC and NMPF strengthens our capacity to fulfill that mission, supporting not only our members but also Guatemalan consumers who rely on both domestic and imported dairy products.”
The agreement complements similar agreements USDEC and NMPF have made throughout Latin America, including with the Colombian Association of Dairy Industry (Asoleche), Sociedad Rural Argentina, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Chilean Federacion Nacional de Productores de Leche (Fedeleche).
Dairy’s Future Depends on Trade, and the U.S. Can Deliver
A billion pounds of cheese can’t be wrong: Exports point to a bright future for U.S. dairy.
The statement is true, it’s simple, and it can be easy to get lost in the back-and-forth of trade disputes among the United States and its partners. Those headlines will remain with us, as trade policy inevitably becomes a part of discussions over national security and economic competition. What remains is the undeniably real growth of U.S. dairy exports, and their critical importance toward building a better future for our industry.
Back to that billion pounds. 2024 was a record for U.S. cheese shipments, by far. U.S. cheese exports rose 17% to 508,808 metric tons, topping 2022’s previous record by more than 75,000 metric tons. Cheese exports have never topped 500,000 metric tons, which translates to more than 1 billion pounds.
Butterfat volumes improved, as have dry whey, casein and fluid milk. And while challenges with China and its soft economy kept last year from topping 2022’s overall record, sales still rose to their second highest ever.
Trade agreements that the U.S. has negotiated over the past couple decades have played a major role in helping lay the groundwork for that growth and last year’s milestone cheese export record.
With more U.S. processing capacity online, our cheese exports are poised for even more global growth. We’re developing and expanding promising markets such as Indonesia while maintaining dominance in our backyard, even as competitors like New Zealand try to elbow their way in to offset China’s weak growth. Across dairy, these positive developments will continue to grow. From 5.2 percent of U.S. milk production in 2000 to 16.4% percent today, trade has become an increasingly important outlet for farmers’ milk. It creates a promising future — and at the same time, it means the future depends on it.
At the National Milk Producers Federation, working in partnership with the U.S. Dairy Export Council, our efforts to unlock new markets and create a positive policy environment are persistent.
- In key foreign markets, U.S. dairy exporters are at a distinct disadvantage because of tariff cuts that the European Union or New Zealand have negotiated in their own trade agreements with those countries. We’re finally now able to take advantage of lower tariffs in many countries. including the 0% tariffs phased in under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), signed back in 2004. But that only underscores how much work hasn’t been done and remains left to do.
- Because the United States hasn’t kept pace on the trade agreements front, NMPF and USDEC have been pursuing unilateral tariff cuts with targeted trading partners. We’ve already seen successes with China on cheese, from Vietnam on various dairy products, and just last year from the United Kingdom on certain milk powder sales; we’re now actively working to chip tariffs down further with the United Kingdom, China and Taiwan. Two of my staff will head to Taiwan next month to advance that goal.
- We’re also pushing against trade barriers that are arising as countries invent new policies that threaten to disrupt our dairy sales. We’ve devoted extensive efforts to beating back a politically motivated countervailing duty case in Colombia. And, we’re focused on ensuring that currently open markets stay that way, and pursuing ways to streamline and expand trade with partners such as Indonesia, Costa Rica and Canada. Our efforts are positioning us well to make headway with the new administration.
- To advance beyond past trade agreements, we are always looking for opportunities to forge new deals that help exporters compete in targeted ways, much like how the U.S.-Japan agreement negotiated under the first Trump Administration boosted our cheese and whey exports. We’re also pushing for strong protections for our cheese exports using common names like “parmesan” and addressing the $2.7B dairy trade deficit we have with the EU.
We’re laying out all of these goals, and more, to the new administration to position them as key deliverables as USTR prepares to meet the White House’s April 1 deadline for submitting major trade plans.
These efforts will continue to build on the momentum we’ve created through decades of patient work, from USDEC’s on-the-ground efforts to our unparalleled global market intelligence to collaborative efforts such as the Cooperatives Working Together program, which is currently in the midst of a reinvention.
And one more thing about that billion pounds of cheese. There are more than eight billion people on this planet. We’ve only just begun.
