“While we are frustrated by the current impasse in the Doha negotiations, we applaud our trade negotiators who have been working hard to achieve a successful conclusion to the Doha Round,” said Jill Appell, NPPC President and a pork producer.

He beleived that a number of trading partners believe that the US will pay any price to achieve a trade deal. Like last July, our trade negotiators again have demonstrated that they will not just take any trade deal. It is up to our trading partners; if they want a successful outcome to the Round, they must provide meaningful new market access in agriculture as well as in other sectors.”

Trade Promotion Authority is set to expire on June 30. Without TPA, it will be difficult for the talks to continue. According to Appell, “TPA should be extended, because the collapse in Potsdam means that more time will be needed to get the negotiations back on track. The United States must continue to lead the negotiations and we can not do that without TPA.”

The WTO Doha Round began in 2001 and offers the opportunity to aggressively cut restrictive tariffs on US pork products around the world. The average global tariff on pork is 77 percent.

Appell said that a large outcome, particularly in the EU and Japan, is needed to make Doha successful for pork producers. Currently, the United States supplies far less than one percent of EU pork consumption, and while Japan is the biggest value market in the world for US pork exports, there is still enormous potential for growth.

The pork industry position in the Doha negotiations was made possible in part because of the effective working relationship between NPPC and the National Pork Checkoff Board and their shared goal of increasing US pork exports.