WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2016 - Senators Chuck Schumer of New
York and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin are urging U.S. Trade Representative
Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to investigate new
Canadian dairy pricing policies that the Democratic lawmakers say are harming farmers
in their states already suffering from depressed milk prices.
Canada recently began imposing limits on U.S. milk imports
and Schumer says it is considering even further restrictions. In a letter
to the U.S. officials, the lawmakers charged that Canada’s actions fly in the
face of current U.S.-Canadian trade agreements.
“It’s clear
that Canada’s new restrictive dairy trade and pricing polices are a
blatant attempt to clamp down on American dairy products,” Schumer said in a release. “I’m calling on Secretary Vilsack and Ambassador
Froman to ramp up their effort to immediately investigate these new,
unfair policies already in place and those proposed for fall implementation.”
Baldwin issued a similar release.
The lawmakers explained that Canada is looking at implementing
this fall a National Ingredients Strategy, which reportedly takes a
similar approach to Ontario’s new Class VI pricing program by incentivizing
Canadian processors to shift away from using dairy imports from the
U.S. Ontario recently implemented a targeted pricing policy that is
designed to crowd out dairy sales from New York and Wisconsin and discourage
Canadian cheesemakers from using imported ultra-filtered milk from the U.S. in
their products. To date, companies in the U.S. enjoyed duty-free access for
this specific product, an agreement Canada complied with under the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
Companies in upstate New York such as O-AT-KA and
Cayuga Milk Ingredients that rely on trade with Canada for a significant
percentage – millions of dollars – of their revenue could be hurt by the new
Canadian policies, as could dairy farmers in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic
regions, Schumer said. Baldwin said dairy plants in her state have lost tens of
millions of dollars in sales to Canada since the Ontario policy was implemented
this spring. Wisconsin and New York are the nation’s second- and third-largest
dairy-producing states, behind California.
Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers
Federation, commended the senators for their push to have Canada’s policies
evaluated.
“This letter comes at a critical time for both trade and the
well-being of America’s dairy producers. We appreciate the senators’ attention
to the importance of holding one of our largest trading partners to its
international commitments and the key role that the U.S. government must play
in doing so.”
Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council,
concurred, noting: “Canada has built up a deeply problematic track record of
instituting program after program to intentionally erect roadblocks to dairy
imports. This volatile situation with a country that should be one of our most
reliable trading partners, given the strength of the U.S.-Canada relationship, cannot
continue to erode the investments that U.S. dairy companies have made in
shipping to this market.”
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