USTR’s mission is to develop and coordinate US international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, and overseeing negotiations with other countries.

"We’re pleased to see someone with such a strong agriculture background as Siddiqui nominated for this post," said NPPC President Don Butler. "He’s a tough negotiator and is inheriting a lot of agricultural trade issues, with pork issues in China and Russia at the top of the list."

Dr Siddiqui is a prominent American agricultural scientist currently serving as vice president for science and regulatory affairs at CropLife America. His agriculture background goes back to the California Department of Food and Agriculture where he spent 28 years before serving in various capacities in the Clinton Administration at USDA as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Senior Trade Advisor to Secretary Dan Glickman and Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.

NPPC worked closely with Siddiqui when he was at USDA in the Clinton Administration. According to NPPC Vice President and Counsel for International Trade Policy, Nick Giordano, "Siddiqui is tough as nails and is the kind of person you want to go to battle with. We look forward to working with him again."

Trade remains vital to the US pork industry. The US pork industry is the number one exporter of pork products in the world, providing low cost, high-quality pork to consumers in 100 countries in any given year.

"This is a very critical time for the pork industry and we need to continue to fight hard to gain market access around the world and maintain it," said NPPC’s Mr Butler. "NPPC congratulates President Obama on a great choice, and we look forward to working his trade team on the many trade issues affecting the US pork industry."