Bipartisan Letter Asks USTR to Insist on More Than 'Window Dressing' in Canadian Dairy Dispute
Eight members of the House, led by Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., are asking the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to continue to push Canada to reform its dairy tariff rate quota system so that it fulfills USMCA commitments to open its market to a wide variety of dairy products.
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"Translating this win into an outcome that delivers the full benefit of the agreement is vital for America’s dairy industry," the April 5 letter said. The writers, which include four Democrats and four Republicans, said that Canada's proposed changes to its TRQs after losing a dispute panel case on the topic still fall short of its commitments. "Canada’s proposal continues to exclude major swaths of its food and agricultural sector from the TRQ by blocking access of retailers and food service companies. Additionally, its proposed approach to allocating shares of access would continue to deliver the bulk of the TRQ volumes to U.S. dairy manufacturers’ Canadian competitors. In short, Canada’s proposal amounts to little more than window dressing as it appears designed to effectively preserve the status quo of who can bring in the vast majority of U.S. dairy products under USMCA’s dairy TRQ.
"As the first dispute resolution case under the USMCA, we know you understand well that this dispute will set a powerful precedent. The decisions the United States government makes next will send a clear signal to our trading partners regarding future dispute panels and the degree of compliance we will require. A deal’s a deal; it’s not too much to ask that our trading partners live up to their end of the bargain."