Canada is hailing a major victory for dairy marketing boards after a North American free trade dispute settlement panel rejected a US complaint that it is unfairly restricting access to markets.A three-person panel ruled Friday Canada had not “unreasonably” limited its dairy market to producers from south of the border under the 2020 USMCA agreement — the successor to NAFTA that had been renegotiated under the administration of former US President Donald Trump.Dairy had proven to be a major sticking point in the deal and specifically Canada’s system of dairy marketing boards and quotas that artificially support higher prices for products such as milk, cheese, eggs and poultry.."Canada is very pleased with the dispute settlement panel's findings, with all outcomes clearly in favour of Canada,"Trade Minister Mary Ng.American representatives had complained although Canada had agreed to offer foreign dairy market access through a complicated system of tariff-rate quota tradeoffs, it was in fact allocating the majority of them to domestic firms primarily located in Ontario and Quebec.In January 2022, a USMCA panel found Canada had indeed manipulated the rules to stabilize farm incomes and protect them from lower-cost imports. Canada has about 10,000 dairy farms.Canada had since amended the rules to comply with the agreement but the US side had insisted the changes didn’t go far enough."Canada is very pleased with the dispute settlement panel's findings, with all outcomes clearly in favour of Canada," Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.."The United States continues to have serious concerns about how Canada is implementing the dairy market access commitments it made in the Agreement... we will not hesitate to use all available tools to enforce our trade agreements,"US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.Not surprising, US officials weren’t as sanguine and vowed to continue to seek redress under the agreement terms."The United States continues to have serious concerns about how Canada is implementing the dairy market access commitments it made in the Agreement ... we will not hesitate to use all available tools to enforce our trade agreements," said US trade representative Katherine Tai.According to Statistics Canada number, the dairy sector generated $8.2 billion in farm receipts and $17.4 billion in sales in 2022, providing more than 70,000 jobs.By contrast the US dairy sector was worth about USD$163.6 billion — or more than CAD$200 billion — in the same period.In her statement, Canada’s Ng described marketing boards as essential to maintaining price stability and the viability of the agricultural sector.Supply management, provides producers with "fair returns" for their investments. "The government of Canada will also continue to work with processors and retailers to stabilize food prices," she added.
Canada is hailing a major victory for dairy marketing boards after a North American free trade dispute settlement panel rejected a US complaint that it is unfairly restricting access to markets.A three-person panel ruled Friday Canada had not “unreasonably” limited its dairy market to producers from south of the border under the 2020 USMCA agreement — the successor to NAFTA that had been renegotiated under the administration of former US President Donald Trump.Dairy had proven to be a major sticking point in the deal and specifically Canada’s system of dairy marketing boards and quotas that artificially support higher prices for products such as milk, cheese, eggs and poultry.."Canada is very pleased with the dispute settlement panel's findings, with all outcomes clearly in favour of Canada,"Trade Minister Mary Ng.American representatives had complained although Canada had agreed to offer foreign dairy market access through a complicated system of tariff-rate quota tradeoffs, it was in fact allocating the majority of them to domestic firms primarily located in Ontario and Quebec.In January 2022, a USMCA panel found Canada had indeed manipulated the rules to stabilize farm incomes and protect them from lower-cost imports. Canada has about 10,000 dairy farms.Canada had since amended the rules to comply with the agreement but the US side had insisted the changes didn’t go far enough."Canada is very pleased with the dispute settlement panel's findings, with all outcomes clearly in favour of Canada," Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.."The United States continues to have serious concerns about how Canada is implementing the dairy market access commitments it made in the Agreement... we will not hesitate to use all available tools to enforce our trade agreements,"US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.Not surprising, US officials weren’t as sanguine and vowed to continue to seek redress under the agreement terms."The United States continues to have serious concerns about how Canada is implementing the dairy market access commitments it made in the Agreement ... we will not hesitate to use all available tools to enforce our trade agreements," said US trade representative Katherine Tai.According to Statistics Canada number, the dairy sector generated $8.2 billion in farm receipts and $17.4 billion in sales in 2022, providing more than 70,000 jobs.By contrast the US dairy sector was worth about USD$163.6 billion — or more than CAD$200 billion — in the same period.In her statement, Canada’s Ng described marketing boards as essential to maintaining price stability and the viability of the agricultural sector.Supply management, provides producers with "fair returns" for their investments. "The government of Canada will also continue to work with processors and retailers to stabilize food prices," she added.
