Thune, Baldwin, Johnson Reintroduce Legislation to Protect U.S. Dairy Producers
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) today led a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers in reintroducing the Safeguarding American Food and Export Trade Yields (SAFETY) Act, legislation to protect American food products from unfair trade practices by foreign countries.
“For decades, global competitors have tried to limit competition, block imports, and restrict American-made products from being able to use common food and beverage names by exploiting valid geographical indication protections,” said Thune. “I’m proud to lead this effort in the Senate to help level the playing field for South Dakota producers by ensuring they can use common food names and preserve and expand foreign market access for their products.”
“Our Made in Wisconsin agricultural and food products are rightfully world-renowned for their quality, putting our state on the map and supporting countless jobs,” said Baldwin. “But, when foreign countries penalize our producers for using common names like ‘parmesan’ or ‘cheddar,’ their unfair trade practices hurt Made in Wisconsin businesses, our economy, and our workers. I’m proud to stand up for our local meat and cheese producers and make sure they can sell their products across the globe and keep supporting good paying jobs.”
“Fair trade agreements and practices are necessary to ensure American agriculture products have access to global markets,” said Johnson. “The European Union’s actions to prohibit the use of common food names for U.S. producers is confusing for consumers and costly to producers and manufacturers. The Safeguarding American Food and Export Trade Yields Act ensures American producers retain vital access to foreign markets in a time that may be more critical than ever.”
“Unfair trade practices imposed by foreign competitors have put U.S. dairy farmers at a competitive disadvantage by falsely protecting common names, especially for cheese varieties,” said Marv Post, chair of the South Dakota Dairy Producers. “With roughly one in six tankers of U.S. milk exported, fair treatment in a global market is critical. We applaud Senator Thune and Representative Johnson for leading this legislation that takes a big step forward to combat the abuse of common names so that U.S. dairy exports have a level playing field and access to all key international markets.”
“Losing the right to use common names has direct, on-the-ground consequences for U.S. dairy farmers,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “We appreciate Senators Thune, Baldwin, Marshall and Smith and Representatives Johnson, Costa, Fischbach and Panetta taking up this fight. U.S. producers deserve fair competition. The SAFETY Act is an important milestone to making that a reality.”
“When the EU restricts our ability to market and sell our cheeses using ‘parmesan,’ ‘feta,’ and ‘asiago,’ it costs U.S. dairy producers markets and consumers that our members have built up over years,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “It is past time that the U.S. government take a more proactive approach to tackling this challenge. A new emphasis on common name protections – headlined by the SAFETY Act – will ensure that our producers can compete on a more level playing field around the world. Thank you to Senators Thune, Baldwin, Marshall and Smith and Representatives Johnson, Costa, Fischbach and Panetta for leading this important effort.”
“For years, many foreign countries have succumbed to the EU pressures to exploit geographical indication rules to confiscate common food and beverage names that American and foreign producers in the new world have used for generations,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of the Consortium for Common Food Names. “This lack of action has cost U.S. producers too much for too long. The Safeguarding American Food and Export Trade Yields Act is a critical step toward ensuring that American producers can count on their government to establish a policy of fairness in the global market. We thank Senators Thune, Baldwin, Marshall and Smith and Representatives Johnson, Costa, Fischbach and Panetta for their steadfast support.”
Common food and drink names such as parmesan, chateau, and bologna are used around the world to describe products to consumers. However, due to geographic indication 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.
This bill would amend the Agriculture Trade Act of 1978 to include and define a list of common names for ag commodities, food products, and terms used in marketing and packaging of products. The bill would also direct the secretary of agriculture and the U.S. trade representative to negotiate with our foreign trading partners to defend the right to use common names for ag commodities in those same foreign markets.
In addition to Thune, Baldwin, and Johnson, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and U.S. Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.).
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