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.