NMPF Advances Dairy Priorities During USMCA Review
July 7, 2026
NMPF and cooperative leadership has been advocating on multiple fronts, including on Capitol Hill, in bilateral negotiations, and through coalition advocacy, to ensure the dairy industry is positioned for success as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) accelerates.
NMPF prepared board member Michael Lichte, who serves as Chief Insights and Optimization Officer for Dairy Farmers of America, to testify June 10 before the House Committee on Agriculture on the agreement’s importance to U.S. dairy, and where it is currently falling short.
“The underlying market distortions USMCA sought to discipline continue to affect U.S. manufacturers and global dairy protein markets,” Lichte added. “With appropriate enforcement and modernization, USMCA can continue supporting investment, export growth, and economic opportunity for the United States’ dairy farmers and processors for generations to come.”
Lichte documented Canada’s attempts to limit U.S. dairy exports through its dairy tariff-rate quota administration. He also highlighted Canada’s use of alternative tariff classifications to route surplus dairy proteins into global markets in ways that evade USMCA’s export disciplines, a practice confirmed by a May 2026 USITC report to which NMPF contributed evidence and testimony last year.
Lichte also underscored the importance of preserving U.S. exporters’ ability to use common cheese names like “feta” in Mexico, where NMPF has long fought back against EU geographical indications overreach.
Later in the month, NMPF executive vice president Shawna Morris provided input to the U.S. government in her capacity as a cleared confidential advisor during the June 15-17 negotiating round between the United States and Mexico.
NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud joined a June 24 panel organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies with Mexico’s lead USMCA agricultural trade negotiator Dr. Julio Berdegué and Tom Rosser, assistant deputy minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, to highlight the importance of targeted adjustments to strengthen and renew the trade deal.
NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council also joined more than 150 North American agricultural organizations in a June 1 letter to USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer and his Canadian and Mexican counterparts that highlighted the need for USMCA to be strengthened and renewed during the review process.
“All three nations share the responsibility of protecting and strengthening this competitive advantage, which is essential not only to economic prosperity, but also to national security and regional stability,” the letter said.
