FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Peggy Armstrong
(202) 220-3508
parmstrong@idfa.org

  By Michael Dykes, D.V.M., President and CEO of IDFA

(Washington, D.C. – June 19, 2017) The International Dairy Foods Association released the following statement by Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA president and CEO, regarding the nomination of Gregg Doud as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s chief agricultural negotiator.

“We are so pleased to support the nomination of Gregg Doud as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) chief agricultural negotiator. I have worked with Gregg on the Ag Roundtable, when he served as a senior staffer for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) and as a staffer with the Senate Agriculture Committee under chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS), and know that he will work both with us and for us.

“Ambassador Lighthizer has pledged that agriculture ‘will be front and center’ in any trade deal the U.S. negotiates, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). I can’t think of a better person than Gregg Doud to be on those front lines. He has the experience and expertise to represent America’s agricultural interests.

“Overall, NAFTA has been very positive for the U.S. dairy industry. We strongly support the administration’s call for renegotiation, and we look forward to working with Gregg on preserving the critically important dairy export market in Mexico, gaining greater market access in Canada and initiating bilateral trade agreements with Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and other markets in the Asia Pacific Region.”

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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers with a membership of nearly 525 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's nearly 200 dairy processing members operate more than 600 manufacturing facilities and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found at www.idfa.org.