Jan 28, 2022
WASHINGTON, DC – Last week, the U.S. Soybean Export Council held its global staff training conference here and invited U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service staff and other USDA cooperator organizations, like USA Rice, to participate and network both in-person and virtually with their visiting staff.
As part of the program, Peter Bachmann, USA Rice vice president of international trade policy, spoke on a panel along with representatives from the Soybean Export Council, U.S. Grains Council, and U.S. Wheat Associates about challenges impacting the industry. Much of the discussion centered around collaboration across commodities to overcome trade barriers.
“USA Rice regularly works alongside other like-minded commodities to help maximize efforts overseas and to share both trade wins and losses so that we can learn and build off of one another,” said Bachmann. “When an issue impacts U.S. wheat exports abroad, there is a pretty good chance it’ll soon impact U.S. rice exports, so the cooperation we have with our allied organizations helps us be prepared and make sure we’re not always alone in tackling problems.”
The highest priorities for USA Rice and generally shared by the other commodities include the growing challenges presented by maximum residue levels and phytosanitary issues, lack of new market access opportunities as the Administration continues to define its trade agenda, and stalled efforts to level the playing field through an offensive agenda at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“In addition to our regular work together with the commodities represented on the panel, several of us also worked together in supporting the two WTO cases that were won by the U.S. against China in 2019 and continue to work in supporting a WTO case targeting India’s domestic rice and wheat subsidies,” said Bachmann.