September 30, 2024
USTR and USDA are assisting U.S. agriculture in expanding into new markets and bolstering current trade ties; the four-year average of U.S. agricultural exports under the Biden-Harris administration is 28.5 percent higher than the previous four years.
Washington: Today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the Biden-Harris Administration had successfully gained access to over $26.7 billion in international agricultural markets for American farmers, ranchers, fishers, and food manufacturers. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai have worked to guarantee that American agriculture can reach global markets and customers around the world under the direction of President Biden and Vice President Harris.
This Administration’s top priority is to provide more opportunity and security for domestic agricultural producers,” stated Ambassador Tai.
“Secretary Vilsack and I think that growers and farmers of all kinds can embrace global trade to expand their consumer base and provide for their families and communities. We are providing for our agricultural stakeholders, expanding into new markets, and bolstering our trading relationships under the direction of President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
Secretary Vilsack stated, “Trade acts as an economic engine for American agriculture, offering significant opportunities for U.S. farmers while also supporting food security throughout the world.” Because of this, USDA has worked to open up more, better, and new markets for American farmers and agribusinesses under the Biden-Harris administration. New initiatives like the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Initiative and the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program have broadened and diversified our export customer base, increased the range of products we sell abroad, and made it simpler for more farmers to take advantage of these markets. USDA and USTR will keep collaborating to advance US exports abroad, eliminate unfair trade barriers, and fortify trade ties with our international allies.
Food and agricultural exports from the United States directly benefit American agriculture and are a major factor in the country’s economic growth.
Each year, exports give rise to almost $200 billion in new economic activity in rural areas and beyond, supporting over a million jobs. For American agribusinesses and farmers, consistent and long-term export sales are a vital source of income. A sizeable portion of the cash payments received by farmers comes from the export of about 20% of all agricultural products produced in the United States.
The USDA’s $1.2 billion Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) was introduced during the Biden-Harris Administration with the goal of strengthening and expanding U.S. agricultural and food exporters’ access to new markets. USDA also started the Assisting Specialty Crop Exports (ASCE) initiative, which is funded by a $65 million RAPP set aside. The goal of ASCE is to support projects that increase domestic knowledge of foreign food safety systems and foreign knowledge of U.S. food safety systems, in order to advance U.S.
specialty crop exports. Along with gathering data for export certification, the program will also gather packaging specifications to comply with new regulations in other nations. Projects like RAPP and ASCE are essential as the United States keeps changing what it sells, where it exports, and who exports in international markets.
The Biden-Harris Administration, for instance, accomplished: ASCE are essential.
- reduced tariffs in India on ten agricultural products, including pecans, chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, blueberries, cranberries, frozen duck, and frozen chicken;
- the capacity to export fresh potatoes to Mexico after requesting access outside of the border zone since 2003, up to a 26-kilometer zone along the U.S.-Mexico border;
- a recent change in Japanese biofuel regulations that permits US competitors to compete for up to 100% of the country’s on-road ethanol market; and
- A recent agreement updates the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement’s beef safeguard system, enabling American beef exporters to more consistently satisfy Japan’s increasing demand for premium beef.
