While Disappointed in Fate of WTO Talks, NMPF & USDEC Praise U.S. Trade Negotiators’ Pursuit of Equity from Trading Partners: July 29, 2008
In this press release, Jaime Castaneda - Senior Vice President and Senior Trade Policy Advisor of NMPF and USDEC - issued a response to the outcome of the latest round of WTO talks in Geneva. Read the full press release here. [0]
Letter to Representative Schwab: July 15, 2008
This letter was sent by NMPF to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab containing the thanks of NMPF members for the hard work USTR has put forth at the WTO Doha Round. It also noted key elements that a final agreement must contain in order to be supported by NMPF's dairy cooperatives. Read the full letter here [0].
Letter to President Bush: July 14, 2008
In the midst of the Doha negotiations, commodity groups (including NMPF) sent a joint letter to President Bush urging him of the need for a balanced deal. Read the full letter here [0].
Letter to Representative Schwab: April 3, 2008
As the Doha Round of trade negotiations in the WTO continued, NMPF submitted a joint letter (with other U.S. food producer and processor organizations) to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab that expressed opposition to the European Union's demands for enhanced protections of geographical indications (GIs). Read the full letter here [0].
Letter to President Bush: October 5, 2007
This letter was sent to President Bush from several commodity groups, including NMPF expressing our concern regarding the direction of the WTO talks. Read the full letter here [0].
Letter to Representative Schwab: May 31, 2007
At the end of April, the Chairman of the WTO Agriculture Negotiating Committee, Crawford Falconer, issued a "challenge paper" intended to spur forward movement in the WTO Doha Round negotiations. This paper focused on several of the key areas of discussion, including specific topics within the realms of export competition, market access and domestic support. Ambassador Falconer attempted to narrow down the range of ideas currently on the table to those that he felt remained within the realm of possibility, given various countries' key goals and sensitivities. He also offered suggestions in some areas about potential paths forward.
NMPF along with several other agricultural organization wrote a letter to Ambassador Schwab regarding the letter. Read the full letter here [0].
Letter to President Bush: June 1, 2006
In a strongly-worded letter to the White House, the National Milk Producers Federation today urged the Bush Administration’s trade negotiators not to yield ground to other parties involved in the World Trade Organization talks unless additional farm policy concessions are put on the table by others countries involved in the negotiations. Read the full letter here [0].
Joint Dairy Organization Letter: March 29, 2006
NMPF and USDEC joined with the Global Dairy Alliance (GDA) to send a letter to WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy and Agricultural Negotiating Group Chairman, Ambassador Crawford Falconer on the issues of export subsidies and market access. The GDA includes the dairy industries of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and Uruguay. In the letter, the U.S. dairy industry and the GDA emphasized their desire to see an effective formula for eliminating dairy export subsidies and significant progress in leveling the playing field through reform of market access in the Doha Round.
The letter stressed the importance of ensuring that a substantial part of the elimination of export subsidies be achieved by 2010. But the dairy industries pointed out that progress on export subsidies must be linked to a good outcome on market access that provides meaningful access into all markets and brings down higher tariffs by a greater proportion than lower tariffs, such as those in the United States. Read the full letter here [0].
Kappelman Testimony
Pete Kappleman a dairy farmer from Wisconsin testified before Congress on November 2, 2005 on the WTO agreements. Read his full testimony here [0].
Summary of U.S. 2005 Proposal
NMPF has put together a summary of the U.S. Proposal on Agricultural Subsidy reform. The information was compiled in October of 2005. Click here to view the document [0].
Balance Trade Booklet
NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council created a brochure titled “Balanced Trade, Not Unilateral Disarmament [0]” to educate U.S. policy makers about the needs and desires of the U.S. dairy industry regarding the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on agriculture. It is vital that the WTO member countries agree to eliminate export subsidies, as well as to correct the inequities in market access and domestic support, so as to avoid inequitable trading conditions that would undermine U.S. dairy producers and processors. That is why NMPF has embarked on a congressional education program to deliver the messages contained in the attached brochure.
U.S. WTO Case Against Canada
Conclusion: The U.S. dairy industry has fought long and hard to facilitate a victory in its challenge of Canada's actions. The final WTO ruling in favor of the United States, coupled with the decision at the end of 2003 by the Ontario Provincial government, has allowed U.S. producers, processors and exporters to regain markets lost to Canada in previous years. Beyond those specific gains, this case has broad implications for the future of international dairy trade. For instance, the WTO's 1999 ruling against Canada discouraged the European Union and other countries from adopting similar circumvention schemes.
This case has been critical in clarifying the WTO rules in order to understand what is permissible in this country, as well as what may need to be negotiated in the current agricultural negotiations of the Doha Work Program. The further appeals are for clarification purposes only.