On Oct. 26, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer announced agreements and frameworks for trade agreements in four key Southeast Asian markets, a high-growth region for U.S. dairy exports.
Agreements on reciprocal trade were reached with Malaysia and Cambodia, while frameworks for agreements on reciprocal trade were written with Thailand and Vietnam.
“With these new agreements, the administration has delivered big wins for America’s dairy farmers,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). “Agreements like those struck with Malaysia and Cambodia will ensure we have fair access to Southeast Asia’s fast-growing markets. ... We look forward to working closely with the administration as they turn the new frameworks with Vietnam and Thailand into strong deals as well.”
The agreement with Malaysia includes the elimination of virtually all remaining dairy tariffs, protections for common cheese names, assurances regarding dairy certification, recognition of the U.S. dairy safety system, streamlining of facility registration requirements and reinforcement of the vital importance of basing regulations on sound science.
The agreement with Cambodia delivers similar results extending to also include a full elimination of all tariffs on U.S. dairy exports and a prohibition on the establishment or maintenance of a facility listing requirement for U.S. dairy products.
“These agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia open new doors for U.S. dairy exports in two dynamic markets and the frameworks with Vietnam and Thailand offer the promise of more to come,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). “By removing tariffs, addressing nontariff trade barriers and cutting red tape, the agreements will make it easier for U.S. suppliers to deliver the high-quality dairy ingredients and foods that Southeast Asia’s growing consumers demand.”
Both of the agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia introduce a ground-breaking model for protecting common food names in international trade.
“For far too long, producers relying on common names to market their products have faced protectionist attacks driven by the European Union to harm fair competition,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN). “These new agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia finally fight fire with fire by directly protecting at-risk common names and establishing detailed due process safeguards for common names as countries consider geographical indication applications. ... We look forward to closely collaborating with the U.S. negotiating team as they now work to turn the trade frameworks with Vietnam and Thailand into similarly successful results.”
The trade framework agreements with Thailand and Vietnam provide outlines of the provisions with each to come, both offering the promise of similarly strong outcomes on tariffs and nontariff barriers impacting dairy exporters.
Economic impact
Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand are already among the top 20 export destinations for U.S. dairy products. Collectively, U.S. dairy exports to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia reached almost $335 million in 2024, encompassing approximately 4% of U.S. dairy exports globally.
The U.S. agreements are particularly important to maintaining U.S. competitiveness in this key region, as the European Union (EU) is advancing negotiations on free trade agreements with Malaysia and Thailand while Vietnam entered the sixth year of its free trade agreement with the EU this year. All three also have long-standing deals with New Zealand and Australia.
“Today’s announcement promises to deliver improved access for U.S. dairy in critical and growing Southeast Asian markets and will support the U.S. dairy industry’s efforts to strategically diversify exports away from an over-reliance on China,” said Michael Dykes, DVM, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). “U.S. dairy exporters have been strengthening relationships in these key markets and region, and we will immediately implement on our plans to benefit from the new access announced.”
