Congress Urges U.S. government to secure greater dairy access in Japan by swiftly pursuing Phase Two agreement
Dairy organizations said the Japanese market is too valuable to U.S. processors, dairy farmers to delay.
Members of Congress representing dairy districts from across the country joined together on July 8 to send a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. The letter asks them to work together to build on the successes secured in a Phase One agreement with Japan and swiftly pursue a Phase Two agreement that addresses any remaining gaps and inequalities in market access and establishes robust commitments on non-tariff issues that can significantly impact dairy trade, according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF).
This bipartisan letter was led by Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.), Josh Harder (D-Calif.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). They were joined by numerous House colleagues, the dairy organizations said, amounting to 51 in total, writing, in part: