In a joint letter, the NFU and Dairy UK urged the government to maintain existing tariff protections, saying opening Britain’s market to more US imports – produced under 'very different constraints' and lower standards – would undermine animal welfare, traceability and environmental protections. NFU dairy board chair Paul Tompkins said British dairy is a 'huge success story' built on public trust and high standards, but warned that cheap US imports could erode consumer confidence and disadvantage UK producers already under pressure from deals with New Zealand, Australia and India. Dairy UK chief executive Judith Bryans added that a rushed or unbalanced deal would risk exposing farmers and processors to unfair competition, threatening a £5.7 billion sector that supports more than 10,000 farms and sustains around 70,000 jobs nationwide.