A coalition of agricultural groups is applauding the move by 111 members of Congress sending a letter this week urging stronger protections for American made food and wine exports using common names. This Geographical Indicator issue has come up before in trade talks with the European Union which uses those GI’s as a trade barrier. Minnesota Milk Producers Association’s Executive Director Lucas Sjostrom says it’s not proper for those GI’s to be used as a trade barrier.
He says after the E.U. and others hold up the GI barrier, they then turn around and use that with other U.S.trading partners.
Sjostrom says the common food name problem has also popped up with the USMCA trade deal and that agreement needs to be enforced.
The Congress people sent their letter to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and Department of Agriculture to make safeguarding common food and wine terms a core policy objective in all current and future trade negotiations.
