The United States declared victory over Canada in the first dispute over the T-MEC agreement

The United States announced on Tuesday that it had defeated Canada in the first dispute over the North American Free Trade Agreement (T-MEC) over the issue of Canadian milk allocation.

Catherine Toy, the U.S. trade representative, said in a statement that the panel, set up last May to consider the milk allocations adopted by Canada, was in violation of the terms of the agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Washington blames Ottawa for allocating a portion of its farmers’ milk to Canadian dairy farms, which process it, automatically reducing the amount of milk it sells to the United States.

“This historic victory will help remove unfair trade restrictions on U.S. dairy products, ensure that the U.S. dairy industry and its workers fully benefit from T-MEC, and market and sell American products to Canadian consumers,” Catherine Toy responded in a statement.

The panel submitted its report on December 20, and under the terms of the D-MEC, Canada has 45 days from that date to comply with the judgment.

The group was formed last May at the request of Washington. This is the first conflict since the T-MEC changed NAFTA on July 1, 2020.

The Canadian government hopes that the report will satisfy some aspects of the report and that it “comes out in great support of Canada and its dairy industry.” It further noted that the notion of quotas was “taken into consideration” and that it would “continue to work closely with the Canadian dairy industry”.

“Canada takes seriously its obligations and obligations under international agreements,” said Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade and Minister of Agriculture, Mary-Claude BBU, including “a close trading partner of the United States.”

Between January and October 2021, the United States exported $ 478 million worth of dairy products to Canada, making it the third largest exporter of U.S. dairy products, its trade representative said.

July / AB / Earl / AG