Dairy cooperative has concerns after USMCA ruling against Canada

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Dairy cooperative has concerns after USMCA ruling against Canada

A dairy farmer cooperative is pleased with the USMCA dispute resolution panel decision on Canadian dairy tariff rate quotas, but still has concerns.

Julie Sweeney is with FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative. She says, “Unfortunately, Canada has a longstanding history of not necessarily being compliant and for finding loopholes, or supposedly developing loopholes as such as we’ve come to this point with this dispute settlement, so there are great concerns in making sure that Canada does comply to the provisions they agreed to.”

Sweeney tells Brownfield the resolution panel agreed with the U.S. saying Canada was not providing enough market access for U.S. dairy products but has seen where some in Canada are seeing the ruling as a win for them. “For some reason, they have shared that this is something to celebrate, that this decision also validates or openly acknowledges the fact that they have a supply management system in place, and that is completely fine, but they still agreed to the provisions in the USMCA and this is something that they need to deliver on.”

Sweeney says FarmFirst and others will be watching closely to see if Canada finally opens their markets and if any U.S. countermeasures will be necessary

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