The International Dairy Foods Association, National Milk Producers Federation, and U.S. Dairy Export Council, along with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture allege that Canada’s policies are in direct violation of the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Food Safety News.
In the letter to President-elect Trump, the dairy groups estimate the negative impact on Canada’s provincial policies for ingredient class milk pricing, adopted in April 2016 “are impacting U.S. exports into Canada and costing thousands of jobs on farms, in processing plants, and throughout the supply chain.”
According to CBC Canada, the provincial policies adopted last April are for “ultra-filtered milk” used in making dairy products. The policies allow Canadian dairy processors to buy milk at world market prices instead of the prices controlled by the national supply management system. The U.S. dairy group says these policies allow Canadian processors to bypass and cut U.S. milk imports.
The letter also claims that an ongoing effort to implement a “National Ingredients Strategy that in broad terms would take the provincial programs and nationalize them,” will have an even bigger negative impact on the U.S. dairy industry. “The entire U.S. dairy industry is being hurt, as milk prices are being driven down nationally by Canada’s trade actions,” they wrote.
The U.S. dairy group also said they were already restricted by Canada’s “exorbitant tariffs” and limited market access. “It is clear that these policies were implemented to intentionally block imports from the United States and are therefore in direct violation of Canada’s trade commitments.”
Dairy Farmers of Canada say they are watching this situation closely and feel confident the Canadian government will back them in its support of the Canadian dairy industry, according to Macleans-Canada.
