Dairy leaders want Canada held accountable under USMCA while preserving the trade agreement. Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative Chief Policy Officer Karen Gefvert says the industry is actively engaged with federal officials.
“Dairy does have a seat at the table. I would say the administration has been keenly aware that dairy is a big issue, has had a long set of challenging conversations when it comes to negotiations with Canada. A lot of that has to do with the way in which the Canadian system is set up. But as far as this current administration and engagement on where we need to be from a dairy standpoint, we have had sustained conversations with the United States Trade Representative, USDA, members of Congress, and other allied industry groups who are in the same boat. There has been some coordination and messaging. There has been – kind of trying to have that clear drum beat of this is what dairy needs and this is what’s helpful or not helpful for dairy as we go through these negotiations.”
Gefvert says the industry’s message has remained consistent since the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement took effect: Canada must follow through on the dairy access commitments it agreed to under the trade deal.
“Our message has been this entire time: hey, Canada is not upholding the agreement that they set forth to do so in the USMCA signing. So, they’ve got some dairy commitments that they have not fulfilled. And that does include this TRQ administration. They also agreed to some transparency. And then, the way in which they have pricing set up in Canada. So those components have been disingenuous perhaps might be the way in which to phrase that. So the messaging to our administration has been: hey, Canada’s got to come and uphold the agreement that they signed and we need to do that. We do support the enforcement of the agreement.”
Gefvert says the goal is accountability without jeopardizing a critical export relationship.
“It’s really important to keep Canada, hold them accountable, but we can’t throw the baby out with the bath water. USMCA has been a valuable agreement for U.S. dairy and we need to make sure that that stays intact, but we get a few of the others things done along the way. It’s our second largest trading partner, so it’s important to continue to keep dialogue open and to try and make sure that we have access to that market. It is not a clear and easy path forward, but we’ve got some great opportunities here to really tell dairy’s story and the importance of dairy and access to Canada in that story.”