The United States has free trade agreements (FTAs) with 20 countries around the world, and these agreements have expanded export opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural producers. The upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the United States and 11 other countries will provide even more opportunities for exporters by lowering or eliminating tariffs on a variety of foods and agricultural products. The FAS expands and maintains access to foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products by removing trade barriers and enforcing U.S. rights under existing trade agreements. FaS works with foreign governments, international organizations, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to establish international norms and rules to improve the accountability and predictability of agricultural trade. The FAS also oversaw the implementation of two new free trade agreements – the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, which entered into force on January 1, and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada AGREEMENT, which entered into force on July 1. The agreements ensure better market access and reduce trade barriers for U.S. agricultural products in some of the U.S. largest export markets. The FAS team ensured that U.S.

agricultural interests were represented when the U.S. entered into bilateral trade agreements with Kenya and the U.K., and the agency pooled its resources to pursue long-term strategies to promote transparent, science-based trade policies that ensure the sustainability and innovation of agriculture in the European Union, in Africa and elsewhere. You can access the monitoring of agricultural tariffs directly under apps.fas.usda.gov/agtarifftracker. And you can learn more about trade agreements and how they benefit U.S. agricultural exporters www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-agreements visit. In addition to its staff in Washington, D.C., FAS has a global network of 98 offices in 177 countries. These offices are made up of locally hired agricultural attachés and agricultural experts who are the eyes, ears, and voice of American agriculture around the world. FAS staff identify problems, provide practical solutions, and work to improve opportunities for U.S. agriculture and support U.S. foreign policy around the world.

“Our presence on the ground proved particularly important when the COVID-19 pandemic began,” said FAS Administrator Ken Isley. “While we have had to make some adjustments to our overseas operations to ensure the safety of our employees and stakeholders, I am proud that the FAS team continues to monitor and report on agricultural trade and production, including the impact of COVID-19, globally and continues to advocate on behalf of U.S. agriculture around the world.” FAS works with 75 cooperation groups representing a representative sample of the United States. Food and Agricultural Industries and manages a toolkit of market development programs to help U.S. exporters develop and maintain markets for hundreds of products. FaS also supports U.S. agricultural exporters through export credit guarantee programs and other types of support. Once the TPP agreement enters into force, exporters will benefit from a combination of tariff reductions, tariff reductions and new tariff rate quotas (TRQs), all of which can be tracked using the FAS online tool. As with other free trade agreements, the benefits of the TPP will increase over time as tariff reductions are phased in. This means new opportunities for exporters.

By providing tariff information in an easy-to-use format, the FAS hopes to help exporters maximize these opportunities. MAP reaches virtually every corner of the world and helps create markets for a variety of U.S. agricultural and food products. FAS provides eligible organizations in the U.S. with cost-shared support for activities such as consumer advertising, public relations, point-of-sale demonstrations, participation in trade shows and exhibitions, market research, and technical support. If WFP funds are used for generic marketing and advertising, participants must contribute at least 10 per cent. A dollar-by-dollar match is required to promote branded products. FAS has led the USDA`s day-to-day efforts to remove barriers and create export opportunities for many U.S. companies…