NMPF and USDEC Welcome Bipartisan Congressional Support to Enforce USMCA Dairy Provisions
May 21, 2021
From Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF):
“On behalf of America’s dairy farmers, processors, and exporters we thank Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI), Tom Reed (R-NY), and their colleagues in both parties for their leadership in calling for USTR to fully enforce USMCA provisions on Canada’s administration of its dairy tariff rate quotas,” said Krysta Harden, President and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). “Canada has failed to take the necessary action to be in compliance with its obligations under USMCA by restricting access to the TRQs.”
“We appreciate the bipartisan work from Members of Congress to support America’s dairy industry on this important trade issue,” said Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. “Canada’s failure to take action over the past six months to fix the administration of its TRQs limits the ability of American dairy farmers and workers to benefit from the access that was negotiated in the agreement.”
USDEC and NMPF have closely monitored Canada’s actions regarding its USMCA commitments even prior to the Agreement entering into force. Canada has allocated its TRQs in a manner designed to discourage full use of the TRQs and limit imports of U.S. dairy products. Specifically, Canada is reserving the bulk of quota access to processors, who have little incentive to import U.S. dairy products, and are not providing fair or equitable procedures in administering the TRQs.
Leading this effort with Reps. Kind and Reed were Representatives Antonio Delgado (D-NY), Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Jim Costa (D-CA), and David Valadao (R-CA).
Both organizations fully support calls from Congress for USTR to move forward with further enforcement action to resolve this issue.
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