While the opening earlier this month of trilateral negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a welcome step forward for U.S. dairy, “a modernized NAFTA represents only one spoke on the wheel of trade agreements that are necessary for a healthy U.S. dairy industry,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA president and CEO, in his Cheese Market News column last week.

“The United States must simultaneously forge new trade agreements, starting with the emerging economies of the Asia-Pacific region, where dairy consumption is rising rapidly,” he said, noting that IDFA will continue to work with members of the administration and Congress to push for policies and pacts that will preserve and grow dairy exports.

“Renegotiating NAFTA is a great start, but we need an ambitious U.S. trade agenda to provide similar success stories for dairy in the future,” he concluded.