Clay Hough, IDFA senior group vice president and general counsel, stressed the importance of real market access to the Japanese and Canadian dairy markets and the protection of common cheese names during a panel discussion Monday at the Washington International Trade Association’s “State of Play TPP” event in Washington, D.C. The panel discussed the dynamics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, outstanding issues and the implications for U.S. and global trade in the absence of an agreement.
“Just a decade ago the U.S. was a net importer of dairy products, and now benefits from a dairy trade surplus of over $4 billion dairy exports have risen from $1.4 billion in 2004 to $7.1 billion in 2014,” Hough told the trade professionals, embassy staff and journalists who attended the event.
For this trend in growth to continue, Hough said, it is imperative to have real market access to the Japanese and Canadian markets and to protect common cheese names in global trade agreements.
WITA is a large non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides a neutral forum for the discussion of international trade and economic issues. With a membership of more than 1,800, WITA represents international trade professionals, including business people, diplomats, academics, government employees, attorneys and consultants.
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Barbara Weisel headlined the event as the keynote speaker. Other panelists included Mike Castellano, vice president for government relations at Walt Disney Company, and Celeste Drake, trade and globalization policy specialist at American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
