OTA on trade negotiations between USA and Taiwan

The Organic Trade Association has hailed trade negotiations between officials from the USA and the Taiwanese government that have resulted in Taiwan recognizing the US National Organic Program (NOP) as equivalent to its recently drafted regulations. The move will open Taiwan to the import of NOP-certified US organic products that are accompanied by a transaction document, TM-11.

Last fall, FAS approved 750,000 $ in Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) funding over three years to OTA, in partnership with Sustainable Strategies, for projects that analyze technical trade barriers for US organic products. With the funding, OTA member Sustainable Strategies: Advisors in Food and Agriculture, is conducting various comparative gap analyses and overviews of international markets for US organic products. Comparative gap analyses are detailed, side-by-side comparisons of the US national organic standards and those of designated countries. Each analysis identifies the barriers to exporting US organic products to specific international specialty markets.

In their project proposal to FAS, OTA and Sustainable Strategies it was pointed out that US organic producers were often at an unfair trade disadvantage because various foreign nations, certifiers and their producers enjoyed full access to the US market while US organic producers had no reciprocal access to their markets. As a result, US companies often had to negotiate with sovereign nations on an inherently uneven playing field. OTA works closely with FAS and US trade negotiation teams to ensure that organic products are considered in trade negotiations, and offers an International Trade Forum for its members. In addition, OTA manages the Organic Export Program, an international marketing program funded by the USDA Market Access Program to promote US organic products to the world market, and an online Export Directory listing companies that export.

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