Congresswoman Stefanik reacts to USMCA dispute panel ruling on trade agreement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Federal Representative of the North Country is reacting to a decision last Friday involving a complaint against Canada, which alleged that the country has overly restricted U.S. Dairy Imports.

“It is entirely unacceptable that the current Canadian dairy restrictions harming U.S. farmers are allowed to continue,” said Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21).

"Our dairy farmers in Upstate New York and the North Country work hard to provide delicious and nutritious products for our communities and deserve the market access they were promised under USMCA. This USMCA dispute panel’s decision allows the status quo to continue. This is untenable. I will continue to work to ensure that USMCA is enforced to allow fair market access for our dairy farmers."

In the spring of 2021, Stefanik sounded the alarm via a letter to United States Trade Representative Katharine Tai, encouraging the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to fully enforce dairy provisions in USMCA.

A year later, it’s reported that a panel ruled that Canada had allegedly violated the trade agreement by not opening up the market enough.

Officials say that the Canadian Government has limited the amount of imported dairy products at duty free or low tariffs, however; Friday’s ruling appears to favor Canada and their trade policies amid the USMCA Agreement.

“This is good news for Canada's dairy industry and our system of supply management,” Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.

With that being said, the U.S. is still optimistic for future negotiations, despite Friday’s ruling. "I am very disappointed by the findings in the USMCA panel report released today on Canada’s dairy TRQ allocation measures,” Ambassador Tai said.

“While the United States won a previous USMCA dispute on Canada’s dairy TRQ allocation measures, Canada’s revised policies have still not fixed the problem for U.S dairy farmers.”

A copy of the panel report is available online.

Elise Stefanik image.