WASHINGTON — The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) confirmed this week that the National Congress of Chile approved an agreement to allow shipments of cheese and meat products from the United States to Chile.

“This is a welcome development from the Republic of Chile, and I would like to thank them for their work on this agreement,” said USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai. “It ensures that US producers of meats and cheeses will not be excluded from the Chilean market and will continue to see the benefits of our mutually beneficial trade relationship.”

The new agreement gives US producers an opportunity to grow their business and supply Chilean people with specialty cheeses and meats, using terms like cheddar, gouda, provolone, prosciutto, and salami. 

USTR said the agreement ensures US exporters of certain meat and cheeses can use those terms in Chile.

“This is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to prevent market access for US producers from being undermined through measures that disallow for the use of terms that describe types of cheese and meat products,” USTR said.

The agreement will also be treated as part of the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement, including for the purposes of dispute settlement.

The two sides came to a mutual understanding about market access when Tai and Claudia Sanhueza, exchanged letters about the matter in June.