Vilsack, who became president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council after leaving office, spoke at the International Dairy Foods Association’s Dairy Forum.
Vilsack told the group that relationships with Mexico — a country that is taking a beating from the White House and has been threatened with new high tariffs — are important. Vilsack urged producers to reassure their customers in Mexico that the U.S. will remain open for business, and they will continue to find ways to work together. “I think the relationships at the ground level, at the grassroots level, can often times overcome any stormy seas that might be created by comments coming from Washington, D.C.,” Vilsack said.
Maintaining and expanding trade is important to U.S. agriculture, Vilsack told the group. He said that the dairy industry has export opportunities in Cuba and Africa. He also said that the importance of trade was the main theme of a half-hour phone call he had with Sonny Perdue, Trump’s pick to succeed Vilsack at USDA.
Dive Insight:
If anyone knows what’s at stake for the nation’s food under Trump, it’s Vilsack. With eight years at the head of USDA — the only 2008 nominee from Barack Obama who remained until Trump took office — Vilsack knows the department’s priorities, problems, opportunities and threats.
Potential issues with Mexican trade are top-of-mind for many in the food and grocery industries. Numerous political analysts have said the tensions mounting under the Trump administration are putting the Mexican government on overdrive trying to find new import and export markets. That’s a big deal for dairy, considering Mexico is now the largest importer of U.S. dairy products, according to the USDA.
The USDEC was one of 133 farm and food organizations that sent a letter to Trump last month asking to to preserve the hard-fought market access in Mexico by modernizing — but not doing away with — the North American Free Trade Agreement. Dairy exports to Mexico totaled $1.2 billion in 2016.
As far as expanding the U.S. dairy trade, a recent report noted that the Cuban government is eager to work with Trump, after relationships between the two countries began to warm under Obama. However, Trump said during his campaign that he would get tougher with the country and possibly withdraw the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Havana. His feelings since taking office are not been made clear; the Trump administration has said it is in the midst of a «full review» of U.S. policy toward its southern island neighbor.
Source: FoodDive
Link: http://www.fooddive.com/news/vilsack-dairy-industry-should-prepare-for-change-under-trump/435686/