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Rep. Ribble Pushing for Dairy Market Access in TPP Trade Talks
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 08/06/2013

Wisconsin's lone member of the House Agriculture Committee is among a group of congressional delegates urging U.S. trade negotiators to consider the impact of American's dairy industry in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Congressmen Reid Ribble of Appleton and Peter Welch of Vermont are leading a group of 74 other farm state lawmakers pushing for certain dairy provisions in the trade deal.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack and Trade Representative Michael Froman, the lawmakers stressed the importance of market access with Canada, Japan and New Zealand; and of securing enforceable sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

"As talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement continue, now is the time to influence the process to get the best possible outcome," Ribble said. "I'm pleased that so many of my colleagues from across the country chose to join in this effort and hope it leads to a final agreement that opens new doors for Wisconsin dairy."

The memo stated that dairy farmers in the U.S. were very pleased that Canada was invited to join the TPP negotiations last year because the country is already America's second largest dairy export market.

"We believe that fully opening the Canadian market to U.S. dairy exports would secure meaningful new trade opportunities for U.S. dairy farmers and food manufacturers," the letter said. "However, dairy discussions with Canada should focus not only on removing tariffs but also on preventing various forms of non-tariff barriers from being employed to negate market access for U.S. dairy."

Meanwhile, the representatives continued to say that they have strong concerns about the impact of expanded U.S.-New Zealand dairy trade on the U.S. dairy sector if major reforms are not undertaken by New Zealand.

"New Zealand has consistently expressed interest in obtaining greater access for its dairy products in the U.S. market. At the same time, it is our understanding that New Zealand has resisted considering meaningful reforms to its dairy sector policies," the letter mentioned.

Wisconsin Reps. Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Ron Kind were among those to sign the letter.


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