The measures announced by Canada regarding tariff quotas for dairy products are insufficient, the American government regretted on Monday evening and proposed countermeasures.
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Washington has criticized Ottawa for reserving some of Canadian farmers’ milk for Canadian dairies to process, thereby automatically reducing the amount of milk sold to them by the United States.
The Biden administration had turned to the special comparison group under the new free trade agreement USMCA (United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement).
He concluded in early January that Canada’s practice of holding tariff quota reserves for the exclusive use of dairy processors was inconsistent with the USMCA.
“The new policy ends the use of processor-specific tariff-rate reserves,” Canadian Foreign Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement Monday.
But the Biden administration does not have the same interpretation of this new policy.
“The United States is deeply disappointed by Canada’s announcement today regarding its dairy tariff quotas,” Katherine Tai, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said in a statement.
She reiterated that ensuring American workers, producers, farmers and exporters receive the market access promised to them in the USMCA agreement remains its “top priority”. “And I told Canada about it directly before they released the clues today,” she added.
In her opinion, Canada’s promises under the trilateral treaty will not be “fully realized”.
“We will examine all options,” she added, adding that the “next steps” would be worked out “in the coming days.”
Canada’s new guidelines regarding the allocation and management of dairy tariff quotas under the USMCA follow public consultations held from March 2 to April 19, the Canadian government official said.
“We are pleased that the new guidelines are fully consistent with the panel’s findings and its recognition that Canada has full discretion under the USMCA to manage its tariff quotas in a manner that supports Canada’s dairy supply management system,” commented Mrs. Ng also .