Dairy Groups Commend Senate for Passing TPA Legislation

Source: National Milk Producers Federation,U.S. Dairy Export Council

The National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council today thanked the Senate for passing and sending to the White House new Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation.

The two dairy groups also praised Senate passage of complementary Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation to help those who lose jobs as a result of trade. They urged the House to quickly approve TAA and send it to the president as well. 

NMPF and USDEC said Trade Promotion Authority is crucial to negotiating a better deal for dairy farmers in the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, as well as in future free trade agreements. They urged the president to sign the bill, which passed the House last week, as soon as possible.

“The U.S. dairy industry has been a strong advocate for TPA,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “In turn, we have seen a broad level of support for TPA from many members of Congress in dairy districts and states. TPA now must be used by our negotiators to conclude a positive outcome for U.S. dairy producers in TPP so that we are able to realize the net trade benefits that a strong agreement could offer to the industry.”

USDEC President Tom Suber added, “To remain competitive globally, our sector needs trade agreements that maximize our export opportunities across the wide range of dairy products produced in the United States. We are confident that TPA will help the United States effectively pursue that path and expect our trade negotiators to insist on nothing less than balanced agreements with positive results for our industry.”

Both groups also thanked three leading legislators — Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) — for playing key roles in drafting and steering TPA through Congress successfully. Hatch is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Wyden is senior Democrat on that committee. Ryan is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. 

TPA, which expired in 2007, is important to the U.S. dairy industry because the United States now exports the equivalent of one-seventh of its milk production.

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The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, Va., develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of U.S. dairy producers and the cooperatives they collectively own. The members of NMPF's cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S, milk supply, making NMPF the voice of nearly 32,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more on NMPF's activities, visit www.nmpf.org.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry to increase its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. The U.S. Dairy Export Council prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, marital status, military status, and arrest or conviction record. www.usdec.org