Rep. Katko Leads Push to Protect Local Dairy Farmers from Restrictive EU Trade Policies

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. John Katko (NY-24) this week led a bipartisan effort to ensure dairy products from Central New York receive fair and continued access to European markets.

Currently, the European Union (EU) is set to impose new entry certificate requirements for a wide range of food and agricultural products exported from the U.S., including dairy, on August 21st. These overly stringent requirements are duplicative and onerous for high-quality U.S. products, and have raised significant concerns for dairy farmers in Central New York who now face the prospect of being shut out of European markets.

In a letter to the European Union (EU) Ambassador to the United States, Stavros Lambrinidis, Rep. Katko and the lawmakers called on the EU to reconsider the burdensome new requirements for dairy products exported from the U.S., and in the meantime delay their effective date. Rep. Katko and the lawmakers also urged the Ambassador to continue pushing for American dairy producers to have greater access to European markets, noting that U.S. dairy exports to the EU account for less than 1/10th the amount of dairy exported from Europe to the U.S. on an annual basis.

'I'm calling on the EU to roll back new requirements for U.S. food exports, which place an unnecessary burden on Central New York dairy farmers and undermine their ability to access European markets,' said Rep. Katko. 'The dairy industry plays a vital role in our regional economy and supports hundreds of workers and families. For this industry to grow, we need to ensure our producers have reliable market access and are not subjected to unfair trade practices.'

'Cayuga Milk Ingredients applauds Representative Katko for highlighting and taking a stance against the EU's recent decision to impose new export requirements on dairy exporters,' said Kevin Ellis, CEO of Cayuga Milk Ingredients. 'We, at Cayuga Milk Ingredients, have developed very strategic trading relationships within the EU block of nations, and these new EU export requirements will have detrimental effects on New York dairy farmers.'

Since coming to Congress, Rep. Katko has been a staunch advocate for the dairy industry and has fought back against unfair trade policies that impact the industry. Last Congress, Rep. Katko supported passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which provided new protections against Canadian trade practices that have created harmful market conditions for local dairy farmers, and has continued to urge the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to strongly enforce these critical dairy provisions under the USMCA.

The full text of Rep. Katko's letter can be found below:

Ambassador Lambrinidis:

Thank you for your commitment to advancing the transatlantic relationship. We share this commitment and appreciate the recent steps that have been taken to strengthen the U.S.-E.U. trading relationship.

Since taking office, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have engaged with their European counterparts in an effort to renew our trading ties, deescalate recent tariff stand-offs, and address various issues. As these collaborative steps continue, we write to emphasize the importance of ensuring U.S. food and agriculture products receive fair and continued access to European markets.

Specifically, we are concerned with the staunch inflexibility the European Commission has maintained throughout this year regarding new entry certificate requirements for U.S. exports of food and agriculture products, including meat and dairy products. Currently, European policy makes exports of these products extremely difficult while EU member states enjoy robust access to the U.S. market. No fact more clearly demonstrates the asymmetry in our food and agricultural trade relationship than the fact that direct U.S. dairy exports to the EU, totaling approximately US$100 million annually, are less than 1/10th the amount of dairy exported annually from Europe to the United States.

The Commission's decision to impose new export certificate requirements-set to take effect on August 21st-on meat and dairy exporters exemplifies not only frequent changes in EU policymaking, but also the EU's unduly prescriptive approach to the regulation of agricultural trade which creates a looming cloud of uncertainty over whether access to the EU market will abruptly close. Prescriptive process rules for how importers must demonstrate the safety of their products are unduly restrictive and undermine progress in advancing the transatlantic trade relationship.

We seek your personal involvement for satisfactorily resolving these matters quickly, including by reconsidering these burdensome requirements and in the meantime delaying their effective date, so that U.S. exporters can assure their buyers that affected products will be available. These products include therapeutic foods for newborns and those receiving hospital care, as well as products for our military stationed throughout Europe.

With this letter, we ask for a meeting with you to discuss actionable steps you can take toward swift resolution of this important trade policy matter.

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