Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Ron Kind released the following statement after U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that for the second time the United States will request dispute settlement consultations with Canada under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) to address dairy restrictions by Canada that are not in line with its USMCA commitments:
“USMCA was a bipartisan triumph and a massive win for dairy farmers across the nation. Now, we need to continue working to make sure our trading partners are held accountable to their commitments and American dairy farmers have access to the level playing field they were promised. Canada’s refusal to reform unfair practices and fully comply with the terms outlined in USMCA is unacceptable – a deal is a deal and they need to live up to their end of the bargain. I applaud Ambassador Tai and the Biden Administration’s decision to move forward with this dispute process and I’ll keep advocating to make sure Wisconsin dairy farmers see the full benefits of this historic agreement.”
In January, a USMCA panel ruled in favor of the United States and found that Canada was breaching its commitments by reserving most of its dairy tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for the exclusive use of Canadian processors. Canada recently published new dairy TRQ policies, but their response continues to fall short and effectively preserves the status quo.
Last month, Rep. Kind led a bipartisan letter calling on Ambassador Tai and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to ensure Canada lives up to its commitments under the USMCA and insist on deeper reforms to bring Canada’s dairy TRQ allocation system into compliance.
Rep. Kind serves on the Subcommittee on Trade for the Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful – and the oldest – committee in the House of Representatives. It has jurisdiction over tax measures, the management of public debt, trade and tariff laws, Social Security, Medicare, pensions, and many other economic growth measures.
