Senator Baldwin Pushes Biden Administration to Secure Fair Access for Wisconsin Meat and Cheese in International Markets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) again called on the Biden Administration to promote and protect Wisconsin’s cheese and meat producers by ensuring their products are widely available and are able to use common food names in international markets. Baldwin’s call for Wisconsin products to be protected in ongoing and future trade agreements with other countries comes after the U.S. Trade Representative successfully secured market access to Chile for a number of U.S. cheese and meat products, including guarantees that Wisconsin producers can sell their products using common food names, like “parmesan” or “salami.” This policy is in line with Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan legislation to protect Made in Wisconsin products from unfair trade practices by foreign countries.

“Trade and access to export markets are critical to Wisconsin’s dairy and meat industries, supporting American farmers and our rural communities, as well as food manufacturers and entire supply chains. For that reason, ensuring meaningful benefits and opportunities for American agricultural producers must be a top priority,” wrote Senator Baldwin in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

Common food and drink names such as “parmesan,” “chateau,” and “bologna” are used around the world to describe products to consumers. However, because these common names have geographic ties to European locations, the European Union has begun using economic and political influence to implement unfair trade practices under the guise of protecting geographic indicators. These unfair trade practices have the potential to block United States’ agricultural products from being sold in international markets.

In June, USTR and Chile came to a mutual understanding on market access to Chile for a number of U.S. cheese and meat products, including that U.S. products can use these common food names to sell their products in Chile. In her letter to the USTR, Senator Baldwin urged the Biden Administration to continue securing market access and common food names for dairy and meat products in ongoing or future negotiations over trade agreements.

“Given the critical role that access to international markets plays for American producers, I urge you to ensure that this agreement is rigorously enforced once it goes into effect. Protecting their market access and recognizing common food names are essential not only to the economic well-being of our agricultural sector, but also to maintaining fair competition and consumer choice,” wrote Senator Baldwin.

“Sen. Tammy Baldwin has been a consistent, impactful champion for the protection of common food names in trade agreements, opening the world to Wisconsin cheesemakers. We thank her for her work with the U.S. Trade Representative to safeguard the use of terms like parmesan, asiago, and fontina on dairy products, as that policy provides clarity for international consumers and greater economic opportunity for farmers and processors here in America’s Dairyland,” said Rebekah Sweeney, Senior Director, Programs & Policy, Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

“The U.S. Dairy Export Council thanks Sen. Baldwin for her steadfast advocacy in protecting the rights of U.S. cheesemakers to use common terms in Chile and other key global markets,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “Her leadership is crucial in ensuring that we don’t lose ground to trade competitors who seek to monopolize these common names through trade abuses. We are committed to continuing our work with her team and the Administration to develop a proactive policy that safeguards common cheese names for the future.”

"American dairy farmers rely on common names like ‘parmesan’ to market their products globally,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “NMPF appreciates Sen. Baldwin’s dedication to protecting the international market access rights of American dairy producers. We look forward to collaborating with the senator and USTR on this important issue.”

“The European Union has shown that it will not relent in abusing its geographical indications system to monopolize common names and seize market share,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of the Consortium for Common Food Names. “American cheesemakers, meat processors, and winemakers are fortunate to have a champion like Sen. Baldwin fighting for our market access rights. CCFN joins the senator in thanking the U.S. government for securing a crucial agreement with Chile that protects names like ‘parmesan’ and ‘salami.’ We fully agree that the U.S. government must establish a proactive policy to ensure U.S. producers of common names can access markets for generations to come.”

A full version of this letter is available here and below.

Dear Ambassador Tai,

As you work with our trading partners around the world, I write regarding opportunities to ensure that U.S. dairy and meat producers continue to be global leaders. Trade and access to export markets are critical to Wisconsin’s dairy and meat industries, supporting American farmers and our rural communities, as well as food manufacturers and entire supply chains. For that reason, ensuring meaningful benefits and opportunities for American agricultural producers must be a top priority.

I commend you on the recent agreement that the United States and Chile have reached regarding market access to Chile that will allow the sale of many Made in America cheeses and meats using common names. This agreement is a significant step forward for the agricultural sector and will provide an opportunity for U.S. producers to grow their businesses and supply new customers with specialty cheeses and meats with recognizable names like “parmesan” and “salami.” This agreement will also help protect market access for U.S. cheese and meat products in this important free trade agreement partner market.

As a Senator representing Wisconsin—a state renowned for its dairy and meat industries—I am particularly appreciative of your work to secure common food names with this agreement. Our farmers and processors are vital to our state's economy, with the dairy industry contributing $45 billion and the meat processing industry contributing $34 billion to Wisconsin’s economy annually. The assurance that American producers will continue to be able to use many established terms for cheese and meat products in Chile is a testament to your efforts in safeguarding our nation’s agricultural interests.

Given the critical role that access to international markets plays for American producers, I urge you to ensure that this agreement is rigorously enforced once it goes into effect. Protecting their market access and recognizing common food names are essential not only to the economic well-being of our agricultural sector, but also to maintaining fair competition and consumer choice.

I also request that you continue this important work in additional international markets by establishing a comprehensive USTR policy dedicated to proactively protecting U.S. exporters’ market access rights to export products using common food and beverage names. Resources should be dedicated to ensuring that no bilateral discussion is concluded without protecting these common terms. Your leadership and your team’s diligent work on this issue has delivered a major victory. To build on the momentum of this success, the United States needs to establish a clear and consistent policy of proactively defending the market access of producers of these products. As we’ve unfortunately seen from multiple European Union trade agreements now, geographical indication restrictions on common food and beverages names have veered far off from their intellectual property system origins and now operate in global markets as market access nontariff trade barriers. The U.S. must treat them as such.

Thank you again for your commitment to strengthening our trade relationships on behalf of American agricultural producers. Expanding market access and securing recognition of common food names for our world class dairy and meat products is crucial for Wisconsin producers who compete on a global stage. I look forward to seeing the positive impact of this agreement and others on Wisconsin farmers and processors.

cc: Secretary Thomas Vilsack

Sincerely,

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