The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) requested written comments from U.S. companies and other stakeholders to identify significant barriers to trade that they face around the world. USTR will include the information in next year’s National Trade Estimate Report, which U.S. trade negotiators use as a resource when working to reduce and eliminate significant barriers that stifle U.S. exports.

IDFA plans to submit comments by October 31, USTR’s deadline, and asks members to send information on trade barriers that affect their companies by October 25 to Beth Hughes, IDFA senior director of international affairs

The comment period is an opportunity for the dairy industry to voice its concerns regarding trade barriers. Hughes explains, “With an ongoing trade war with China, an outdated trade agreement between North America, and the growth of foreign dairy export competition, IDFA has an obligation to express concerns for the barriers inhibiting free trade.”

In 2018, IDFA submitted comments highlighting obstacles to trade that the U.S. dairy industry faces in China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. USTR captured several of these issues in its 500-page report released in April 2019, including the expanded use of geographical indications to protect the use of common food names, high tariffs and restrictive regulations in several countries.

USTR will publish the 2020 National Trade Estimate Report next spring.