Shannon Linderoth W hen Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan calls for higher interest rates, people listen. Or, more likely, we ll have to muddle through the trade maze a while longer as international negotiators continue to parry and thrust in the protectionist duel they know so well. We re huge traders in those commodities. We do export some dairy products, but in terms of tonnage, we re big dairy importers.
T hat s due, in part, to the perishability of most dairy products.
Other factors include high domestic dairy utilization and significant U.S. border tariffs protecting our domestic market. The Dairy Export Incentive Program offers a limited export subsidy, but it typically doesn t address the entire range of dairy products exported. But, since countries had a great deal of flexibility in deciding how much each ag tariff would be cut, average reductions varied. S till, ag tariffs tend to be higher than those on manufactured items, and are unevenly distributed across countries and commodities. O ur tariff rates on dairy are high, but not as high as other countries like Canada, Japan and the EU, notes Janet Nuzum, vice president and general counsel of the International Dairy Foods Association.