The U.S. president’s surprise decision to call out Canada by name Tuesday put dairy farmers north of the border on notice that they are in America’s fair-trade sights. «Wisconsin and NY dairy farmers are only the first victims of Canada’s illicit dairy trade restrictions», the governors’ memo stated. The letter didn’t say how many NY producers are affected.
«Canada does not accept the contention that Canadian dairy policies are the cause of financial loss for dairy farmers in the United States», MacNaughton wrote, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Canada, one of the U.S.’s top trading partners, has imposed an import tax on ultra-filtered milk, a product used in the cheese-making process.
«We’re also going to stand up for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin», Trump told the crowd. The affected farmers lost contracts with US dairy processors that export to Canada.
For the second time this week, U.S. President Donald Trump has given Canada a verbal lashing over what he says are unfair trade practices that are putting Americans out of work. «They are using us as a scapegoat», said Gerrit Damsteegt, a Shubenacadie dairy farmer and chairman of the Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia.
He said the facts don’t bear that out and attached a U.S. Department of Agriculture dairy outlook report that «clearly indicates the poor results in the U.S. sector are due U.S. and global overproduction». And we’ll be reporting back sometime over the next two weeks as to NAFTA and what we’re going to do about it.
Australia, the third-biggest cheese exporter outside Europe, exports about a third of its cheese production, while Canada sells all its cheese domestically, McQueen added.
The U.S. -Canadian dispute has spread to Minnesota, where officials say 19 dairy farms are affected, according to The Associated Press.
USA dairy industry groups, in a letter last week, asked Trump to urge Trudeau to halt the pricing policy that has disrupted some US dairy exports and prioritize dairy market access in NAFTA renegotiation talks.
Carr said Canada’s government knows it can make a very persuasive case for the integration of the two nations’ economies when the sides meet for trade talks in a few months.
The specific program in question is the National Ingredients Strategy, a type of pricing program that gives incentives for Canadian dairy processors that steer them away from purchasing USA dairy products.
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