United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai Tuesday announced that the United States is requesting new dispute settlement consultations with Canada under the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement.
The request is over Canada’s dairy tariff-rate quota, or TRQ, allocation measures. Since initiating consultations with Canada in May 2022, the United States has identified additional aspects of Canada’s measures that appear to be inconsistent with Canada’s obligations under the USMCA, and U.S. concerns have only increased. With this new request, the United States expands its challenge of Canada’s dairy TRQ allocation measures to include Canada’s use of a market-share approach for determining TRQ allocations.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “Canada remains in violation of its commitments under the USMCA by not removing its trade restrictions on American dairy producers.” In January 2022, a USMCA dispute settlement panel found Canada’s dairy TRQ allocation measures to be inconsistent with Canada’s USMCA obligations.
