Bipartisan effort in U.S. Senate to protect common cheese names

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has joined a bipartisan effort in the Senate to protect Wisconsin and American dairy farmers and producers from a European initiative that would change the common names for cheeses Americans enjoy every day.

In a bipartisan letter signed by more than 50 of her Senate colleagues, Baldwin urged the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to fight European Union (EU) efforts to prohibit American dairy producers from using dozens of common cheese names.

The EU claims that dairy products bearing names such as asiago, feta, parmesan and muenster are geographical indicators and can only be appropriately displayed on products made in certain areas of Europe.

If the U.S. were to be subjected to a ban of these traditional brand names for various cheeses consumers may be confused and not just American dairy farmers but Wisconsin dairy farmers specifically could suffer.

According to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, 90 percent of Wisconsin’s milk goes to cheese production. And Wisconsin is the top cheese producer in the U.S., producing 2.7 billion pounds of cheese each year, or 25 percent of all cheese produced in the U.S.

Senator Baldwin’s efforts are supported by the National Milk Producers Association, U.S. Dairy Export Council, International Dairy Foods Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, Kraft, Leprino Foods and others.

Last month Ben Brancel, secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), briefed members of the department’s board on this issue, calling it problematic that the EU would try to get geographic indicators on cheese names into trade talks.

“What would consumers think if, instead of buying packages of Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese, they would find packages carrying the name ‘Wisconsin cheddar-like cheese?” he asked.

John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, has said what the EU is trying to do is “take our nouns from us.”

At a time when trade barriers and tariffs are being eliminated and free trade agreements are continuing “the EU is trying to create new barriers to trade by stealing their names back,” Umhoefer said.

Here is the full text of the letter Baldwin wrote.

Dear Secretary Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Froman

We commend your past work to fight the growing geographical indication (GI) restrictions promoted by the European Union (EU). This trade barrier is of great concern to dairy and other food manufacturers in our states.

On their behalf, we urge you to continue to push back against the EU’s efforts to restrict our cheese exports, particularly to nations with which we already have free trade agreements.

In addition, we urge you to make clear to your EU counterparts that the U.S. will reject any proposal in the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations now underway that would restrict in any way the ability of U.S. producers to use common cheese names.

In country after country, the EU has been using its free trade agreements (FTAs) to persuade its trading partners to impose barriers to U.S. exports under the guise of protection for its geographical indications.

This trade-damaging practice is concerning anywhere, but it is most deeply troubling where the U.S. has an established FTA or has been actively in the process of negotiating a new agreement. For example, Canada agreed as part of its recently concluded FTA with the EU to impose new restrictions on the use of feta and other common cheese names.

Common names for products such as feta are clearly generic in Canada, as they are in many other countries. These restrictions not only threaten harm to the companies currently involved in the Canadian market, but they also would impair market access for U.S. dairy products that we are now attempting to secure under ongoing trade negotiations.

Similar trade barriers are cropping up throughout Latin America as well and are under discussion in many Asian countries involved in negotiations with the EU.

Reportedly, the EU now seeks to more directly impair U.S. competition by imposing restrictions on the use of common food names through TTIP. In the states that we represent, many small- or medium-sized family owned farms and firms could have their business unfairly restricted by the EU’s push to use geographical indications as a barrier to dairy trade and competition.

As we begin to engage in TTIP negotiations that are ultimately intended to bring about a better economic climate on both sides of the Atlantic by lowering barriers to trade, we strongly oppose the EU’s gratuitous use of GIs as a protectionist measure.

We ask that USTR and USDA continue to work aggressively to ensure the EU’s GI efforts on commonly used cheese names do not impair U.S. businesses’ ability to compete domestically or internationally and that you make this a top priority through both official TTIP and bilateral negotiations.

Signed by Senator Tammy Baldwin.