It's never easy
Nov 02, 2018
ARLINGTON, VA -- This week, USA Rice submitted its comments for the 2018 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE), an annual report issued by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Published in the first quarter of each year, the NTE is a summary of significant foreign trade barriers facing U.S. exports and is instrumental in USTR’s negotiations to eliminate such barriers.
The USA Rice submission identified several significant obstacles for the U.S. rice industry including the EU’s tariff regime and import policies; domestic support programs in India and China; unwarranted SPS barriers and retaliatory tariffs in Turkey; anticompetitive practices and import policies in Colombia, Japan, and Korea; and trade restrictions in Taiwan.
“Our submissions make a difference – the two ongoing U.S. cases in the WTO against China’s farm support and import policies on rice and other grains are good examples – but there’s more work to be done and problems to highlight,” said USA Rice COO Bob Cummings. “Many other countries have policies which ignore their WTO obligations or otherwise restrict U.S. access and U.S. rice producers and exporters are suffering for it. Our submission makes it clear where we are facing the most significant barriers.”